Guardiola looks to claim 13th trophy in Japan

Barcelona look to build on their record medal haul under coach Pep Guardiola later this month with the home grown hero aiming to lead his side to a thirteenth trophy when they play in the Club World Cup.
Guardiola has had an astonishing run of success at the helm of Barcelona in his three and half years in charge which has seen the side dominate the European and Spanish game. In the summer, victory in the European Super Cup over Porto saw Guardiola claim his 12th trophy and overtake the eleven achieved by Johan Cruyff, the previous most successful coach of Barcelona, in his eight years in charge which began in the late 1980s.
Barcelona travel to Japan later in the month and join the Club World Cup at the semi-final stage as do joint favourites Santos of Brazil. The Catalan side are aiming to repeat their achievement in 2009 when they came from behind in the final to beat Argentine side Estudiantes 2-1 in extra time.
That win crowned an amazing year for Barcelona when they won the six cups that were on offer and although they can’t quite match that achievement, with the team having been beaten by Real Madrid in the King’s Cup final, it would still be a remarkable year and demonstrate the domination of the side with critics now debating whether this could be the best side of all time.
The appointment of Guardiola in the summer of 2008 was considered a gamble by the then president Joan Laporta and his board with the previous coach Frank Rijkaard having been sacked after losing control of the dressing room. With opinion polls of his leadership rock bottom and having had to fight a vote of no confidence, Laporta needed a popular choice and he chose Guardiola who had been a fans favourite as a player in the 1990s where he was an integral part of Johan Cruyff’s successful ‘Dream Team’.
Although inexperienced, Guardiola, inherited the basis of a strong side even though they had petered out at the end of the 2007-08 season and where beaten to the title by Real Madrid. Crucially Guardiola introduced discipline and put his faith in young players who he knew well having been coach of the youth side while he considered expendable players like Ronaldinho and Deco who had lost their way.
In his first season, Guardiola won the treble and along with the established stars of the side among others former youth product Gerard Pique, who returned to the club from Manchester United, became an assured figure at the back while in attack youngster Pedro Rodriguez emerged as a lethal finisher. By the end of 2009 Pedro became the only player to have scored in every competition in a year.
In the two years since that victory against Estudiantes in the final of Club World Cup, Barcelona have continued playing their brand of quick passing football. They may have lost in the semi-finals of the 2010 Champions League to Inter Milan but they bounced back to beat Manchester United again in the final a year later.
This season there have been more question marks over Guardiola’s side as they have stuttered away from home. While they have marched on relentlessly at the Nou Camp, they have struggled on their travels such as in the 2-2 away to Athletic Bilbao and notably the 1-0 defeat against Getafe. The emergence of a stronger Real Madrid with coach Jose Mourinho in his second season is also threatening Barca’s dominance although they did put them in their place in last weekend’s clasico.
Guardiola is confident that Barca will come through in the New Year.
“I like to point out that this is a normal situation and in the 112 years of the club’s history it has often happened that you don’t lead all the way from the start. I won three leagues in the last week of the season and having been behind all year. You don’t always win just because you have been ahead from the very start, you just need though to be waiting for your chance,” he said.
“It is true that in the title race if we had lost to Madrid then it would have put us in a complicated position but they are where they are because of the football they have produced. We need to be as consistent as possible and keep concentrating on ourselves.”
Having notched up 12 trophies Guardiola has lost none of his desire to keep winning.
“We can always improve and I am looking forward to achieving more. It is the job of the coach to improve the team which takes time but only a second to fall,” he said.