Guardiola has won 20 titles since last Champions League as he aims to end hoodoo

Guardiola insists Man City legacy already secure ahead of Real Madrid semi final

By his lofty standards, Pep Guardiola has endured Champions League cataclysm across the 11 years since he collected his last crown. In 2011, a 3-1 win against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium named Barcelona European champions for a fourth time. Since then, Guardiola has been starved of similar success.

Manchester City will reach their second Champions League final in three years if they can navigate past Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium tonight.

But heartbreak against Chelsea in 2021 was nothing new for Guardiola, whose prolific domestic trophy hunting over the last decade hasn’t translated.

In 2011/12, what would prove to be Guardiola’s final season at Barcelona, it was Chelsea celebrating at the Nou Camp after Fernando Torres’ iconic late strike secured a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

The failure ended his memorable tenure as Blaugrana boss after picking up the Supercopa de Espana, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup earlier in the season.

Guardiola took a year out to reside in New York City, but he didn’t stay away from the game for long. His thirst for silverware was too intense, and Bundesliga overlords Bayern Munich didn’t have to ask him twice.

Three successive league titles followed during his time at the Allianz Arena. Two DFB-Pokals, a UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup.

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But he couldn’t bring European glory to Bavaria. Three years. Three semi-final defeats. Tough.

In 2014, former rivals Real Madrid came back to haunt Guardiola by romping to a 5-0 victory across two legs.

A year later, Guardiola was visited by another ghost of his past. Barcelona, to be precise. They progressed Bayern with a 5-3 win.

2016 came next. And it was more Spain without the S for Pep. This time it was Atletico Madrid’s turn in the final four, and they snuck past his German giants on away goals after a 2-2 draw.

Guardiola reacted. Not by taking measures to ensure Bayern wouldn’t make it an unwelcome fourpeat, but by taking charge at Man City in 2016.

A transitional and trophyless maiden campaign involved City being on the wrong end of a last-16 classic against AS Monaco’s pre-raid star-studded side, losing on away goals after a 6-6 stalemate.

He picked up 11 trophies in five seasons in response, including four Premier League titles and four consecutive League Cup crowns.

But his true prize has been clear, as much as he’ll play it down. That European Cup – a first in City’s history – has evaded him.

Premier League rivals Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur got the better of the Citizens in the quarter-finals in 2018 and 2019.

2020 – in different, one-legged circumstances amid the Covid pandemic – caused similar frustration. City suffered a shock 3-1 loss to Lyon – also in the last eight.

In 2021, at last, the time had come. Guardiola had reached his first final since that night in London a decade prior. City were heavy favourites against Chelsea, this time in Lisbon. This was the moment.

But no. Kai Havertz’s winner saw the Blues lift their second Champions League title, leaving City broken and beaten as the agonising wait rumbled on.

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Their exit against Real last season will have hurt just as much. The Bernabeu was silenced after Riyad Mahrez fired City 5-3 ahead in the 73rd minute of the second leg.

Somehow, someway it wasn’t enough against the club that always seems to find a way in this competition. That’s why they’ve won 14 of them.

Real won 6-5 through not one, not two, but three stoppage-time strikes. It really is beyond belief, and it all comes down to tonight.

City vs Real. 1-1 after the first leg. Etihad Stadium. Yes, this time, it’s on Guardiola’s turf.

And he will be praying for a different outcome. Otherwise, the prospect of an unmissable black mark staining his era of dominance in east Manchester – and his legacy – will continue to remain a possibility.

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