🤔 ❓ What if ... Pep Guardiola had STAYED at Bayern Munich? | OneFootball

On December 20 2015, Bayern Munich announced that Pep Guardiola would be leaving the club at the end of the 2015-16 season to be replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.

Guardiola didn’t reveal where his next move would be at the time but Manchester City had long coveted the Catalan.

“I hope he will have the option to work at Manchester City, some day he’ll come here,” City manager at the time, Manuel Pellegrini stated.

Pellegrini was right. City announced Guardiola would indeed follow Chilean to the Etihad stadium for the start of the 2016-17 season.

What if none of this happened though?

What if Guardiola stayed at Bayern Munich? There is no need to think about that reality any longer, as we have gone and contemplated just what that situation would’ve looked like.

Bayern Munich dominate Europe

Bayern Munich aren’t exactly in a slump when it comes to winning trophies.

The Bavarians have won the last seven Bundesliga titles and their last success in the Champions League was only back in 2013.

However, their acquisition of Guardiola as head coach was with the complete ambition to dominate European football.

“The signing of Guardiola shows the value of Bayern who want to be on par with Manchester United and Real Madrid”, honorary president Franz Beckenbauer said at the time.

Guardiola had just guided Barcelona to two Champions League trophies and had built one of the greatest teams to ever grace the sport.

His task in hand was to repeat that in Germany.

It never worked out like that with Guardiola and Bayern falling at the semi-final hurdle in each of his three seasons at the Allianz Arena.

So near, yet so far.

If Pep had stuck around in Munich, at some point you would expect he would have made that final step, purely by the law of averages.

Guardiola left the club with the likes of Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Thiago and Robert Lewandowski still to hit their peak.

The addition of Mats Hummels the summer after Pep’s departure shored up Bayern’s defence, imagine what he could have done with a real ball-playing defender.

At some point, Bayern and Guardiola would have been the kings of Europe.

Manchester City don’t become Centurions

Manchester City’s 100-point total of the 2017-18 campaign was record-breaking, and followed in the next campaign by a domestic trouble.

City had become the pinnacle of English football.

But would it have happened that way without Pep Guardiola?

His first season at the Etihad ended trophy-less which was a first in Guardiola’s career.

There was no turning back after that, and although City had won titles and domestic trophies before the arrival of the Catalan – they’d never had such a tight grip on English football.

Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini’s title successes were followed by abysmal defences of their crown.

Guardiola changed the game.

Manchester City courted Guardiola for years, with Txiki Begiristain in place as the director of football ready to reignite the partnership that made Barcelona such a success.

The Sheikh Mansour reign was never going to be complete until they had Pep sat on top of the throne.

Everything was built for Guardiola, and he more than duly delivered.

There has never been a club side quite like Guardiola’s City.

Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne were clearly talented footballers but the influence of the former-Barcelona head coach has propelled them to that world-class bracket.

Liverpool perhaps could have reached the 100-point total if the season hadn’t hit the brakes, and we might never know if they were capable of surpassing it.

It was an incredible achievement that won’t be repeated on many occasions in the future.

City may have won more titles without Guardiola but their remarkable past two seasons wouldn’t have existed without the 49-year-old.