5 greatest Barcelona managers of the 21st century
Despite their recent struggles, Barcelona remain one of the most successful clubs in the history of the game. Powered by the genius of Lionel Messi, the Blaugrana has won 35 titles in the 21st century, which is the second-highest tally across Europe's top five leagues, behind only Bayern Munich in Germany.
Camp Nou has been home to some of the world's greatest players over the last two decades, and indeed a few of the most brilliant minds in the sport.
🎞 Johan Cruyff, the manager looks back at the secrets of the legendary Dream Team (3 parts): ow.ly/ZVyfy https://t.co/E8vgSwAt29
From Johan Cryuff to Sir Bobby Robson - New Barcelona boss Xavi has big shoes to fill
Club legend Xavi Hernandez is the latest in a long line of football legends to grace the Camp Nou dugout. Barcelona have traditionally been managed by elite coaches who revolutionised the sport with their ideas and contributions. The likes of Johan Cryuff, Louis van Gaal and Pep Guardiola instantly spring to mind.
While recent times have been anything but smooth sailing for the club and its managers, here are five of Blaugrana's greatest head coaches of the 21st century.
#5 Tito Vilanova
The late Tito Vilanova managed Blaugrana for just one season, in 2012-13, before resigning due to a relapse of glandular cancer. He, unfortunately, passed away in April 2014, less than a year after departing Camp Nou.
Barcelona have enjoyed continuity in terms of their coaches for most of the 21st century, apart from recent seasons and the turn of the millennium. Therefore, Vilanova makes our list, despite coaching the team for just a single season. He is one of five managers to have won a La Liga title with the club this century.
Tito Vilanova, who was Guardiola's assistant, took over from his boss in 2012, leading the team to a historic 100-point @LaLigaEN title. Tito passed away #OnThisDay: April 25, 2014. Today, he would have been 51 years old.
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Vilanova led the Blaugrana to the 2012-13 league title and the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich. His tenure lasted 44 games, winning 33. In this period, the Blaugrana scored 116 goals and suffered just five defeats.
#4 Ernesto Valverde
Ernesto Valverde managed Barcelona for nearly two and a half years, between 2017 and 2020, after succeeding Luis Enrique. After overachieving with a plucky Athletic Bilbao side, expectations were high when he arrived at Camp Nou.
Unfortunately, Valverde's tenure with the Blaugrana will always be remembered for their shocking collapse in successive Champions League campaigns.
Blaugrana were eliminated by AS Roma and Liverpool in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively. On both occasions, the Spanish giants suffered meltdowns in the second leg despite holding comfortable advantage from the first fixture.
Nonetheless, Valverde delivered in the league, leading the club to successive La Liga titles. In fact, the team was on course to win a third straight league crown when he was fired in January 2020. Barcelona went on to blow their advantage and surrendered the title to Atletico Madrid in dramatic fashion on the final matchday of the season.
Valverde was sacked by Barcelona when he was at the top of the La Liga after winning back to back titles but Barcelona wanted to play aesthetic football so they got Setien just for him to play even worse and bottle La Liga.
Valverde was also rather harshly criticised for his defensive tactics and for not setting his teams up to play 'the Barcelona way'. However, he remains the most recent successful Blaugrana manager, and the club has been on a downward spiral since his sacking.
He won a Copa del Rey and a Spanish Super Cup in addition to the two league titles, while the club won 97 of his 145 games as head coach.