Why this title means more to Pep

Man City Premier League Champs 2021 | 2022

Success is not foreign to Pep Guardiola- the furthest thing from it. In his 13 years in management, he has won an impressive 10 league titles in 3 of Europe's top 5 leagues. Yet somehow, after clinching the Premier League title this Sunday he was in tears.

Twb Article 3 min read

It's safe to say that this title campaign was a whole lot more emotionally demanding on the Catalonia native than the ones that have past. For the second time in 4 years, they have beaten Liverpool to the honors by a single point.

Author

S'bo Gyre

Published

May , 2022

However, this season seems to have pushed Pep to the emotional limits we haven't seen since his days dueling Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid. From mind games to the creation of a siege mentality, which plays right out of Mourinho's playbook, this season saw Guardiola have to dig deep in himself and his players.

"Everyone in this country supports Liverpool, the media and everyone, of course, because Liverpool has an incredible history behind in European competition", the Spanish maestro said of his believed bias towards Liverpool. "The people want Liverpool to win more than us. It’s not an issue. It’s normal. Maybe they have more supporters all around the world and in England more support Liverpool than us."

As subjective an opinion as that might be, it's hard to look past the romanticism associated with Liverpool achieving the unprecedented quadruple from most sections of the press.

The nature of Liverpool rivaling City was always going to create a dichotomy that would cast City as the villain. Sarcastically labeled as "plucky underdogs" due to their seemingly bottomless coffers, the tongue-in-cheek attitude towards his team was bound to rub him off the wrong way.
The tip of the iceberg was seemingly City's disastrous collapse at the Bernabeu versus Real Madrid. The work put in by his staff, players, and himself was undermined due to their failure to reach the club's European showpiece final.

His response was to rather obscurely reference the spending at AS Roma of all clubs as a barometer to prove that spending money does not guarantee success on the football pitch. This was, if ever there were, an example of how much rivalries from the past and murmurs in the present pluck at the heartstrings of his ego. Lots of credit must be given to the Merseysiders who clawed back a 14-point deficit to make the EPL's culmination as pulsating as it was. This is something that is not lost on City's players.

"Even though again they finished one point behind us, I think they played an incredible season, and we pushed each other to the limit", Sunday's two-goal hero Ilkay Gundogon said during the Citizen's title celebrations. "I know it's tough to say, but if Liverpool wouldn't be there and play the way they play, very successful, this league wouldn't be that attractive."

The superhuman aura that has become associated with his career found its kryptonite this season and Sunday's tears are an admission that it's not perfection he seeks but like any other football fan, it's a joy from watching the team you support to win a high stakes football match.

Written by

S'bo Gyre (@FootballFemmes)

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Why this title means more to Pep

Man City Premier League Champs 2021 | 2022

It's safe to say that this title campaign was a whole lot more emotionally demanding on the Catalonia native than the ones that have past. For the second time in 4 years, they have beaten Liverpool to the honors by a single point.

As subjective an opinion as that might be, it's hard to look past the romanticism associated with Liverpool achieving the unprecedented quadruple from most sections of the press.

Written by

S'bo Gyre (@FootballFemmes)

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A magazine that highlights the contribution creatives have to society. Read our recent articles

Why this title means more to Pep

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