For seven of the last eight years, Pep Guardiola has approached the months of April and May with the word ‘legacy’ dominating all discussion.
At Barcelona and now Bayern Munich he has had the canny knack of being involved in the race for major silverware each and every season; but that success has also carried the burden of symbolism.
Just how good a manager is he? Where does he stand alongside various club legends? Just how influential has he been? But then if you create an aura as an innovator and a revolutionary, history will follow you wherever you go.
With the Catalan 65 days from taking up his new position at Manchester City, understandably, the debate surrounding how his lasting impact at the Allianz Arena has begun in earnest yet again.
But irrespective of the feeling within Munich and the wider football community regarding if Guardiola can be considered a success in Bavaria, if he departs with no Champions League titles added to his CV, the only pressure that really matters is the force which the Catalan creates himself.
Xavi described him as having a “sickness for football”, and as Guardiola has shown, in his methods, work ethic and silverware, he is he is not a careerist or happy to just be involved in football. As he said himself in 2011 upon renewing his contract at Barcelona: “I don’t want to live off what I’ve done… we have to carry on winning.”
Whether it be the influence of Johan Cruyff, or the grandstanding of the club where he grew up, Guardiola wants his own place in history. Which is why nobody will be placing greater expectations on tonight, next week and, hopefully on May 28, than the 45-year-old, hoping to finally get over the semi-final hump with the Bavarians.
There must be a mixture of frustration, coupled with insecurity that Bayern must face Spanish opposition yet again in the last four; having been knocked out by Real Madrid and Barcelona.
By Guardiola’s own admission he got both those ties horribly wrong; assuming personal responsibility for the 4-0 second-leg thrashing at the hands of Madrid in 2014 – twice changing his mind to switch from a three-man defence to a flat back-four and then a kamikaze 4-2-4 formation on the eve of the game; while the 3-0 first-leg loss in the Nou Camp 12 months ago saw a recklessly high defensive line deployed against Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.
In his mission to make a statement, Guardiola has been guilty overthinking matters and while he’ll love the challenge of trying to outwit Diego Simeone – with Atleti’s defensive set-up vastly different to the buccaneering of Real and Barca – a third self-inflicted misstep will be painful to take.
Defeat to a third Spanish club at the same stage is simply not an option. Not necessarily because it would deprive Bayern of a shot at the Champions League but because it will amount to personal failure. Let alone what anyone else says, that’s something Guardiola himself will struggle to accept.
