Pep Guardiola's Greatest XI of all time
Pep Guardiola is undoubtedly one of the most successful managers the game has ever seen. He made his name with Barcelona as a player before taking over as a manager in 2008.
From 2008-2012, he built a team that is considered to be one of the greatest club sides the world has ever seen. That Barcelona side combined supreme quality with a rich pool of homegrown talent and endorsed the tiki-taka style of football like no other.
Pep won 14 trophies in that period before calling it quits. Among these 14 trophies were two Champions League titles. The Spaniard took over a treble-winning Bayern Munich in 2013 from Jupp Heynckes. In Germany, Pep won seven trophies in three years including a hat-trick of Bundesliga titles. However, the Champions League eluded him at the Bavarian club.
Guardiola then took over the reins at a resurgent Manchester City in 2016 and is currently managing the English club. The illustrious manager had the first-ever trophyless season of his career, at City, and is now in the process of rebuilding the side for next season.
As he completes a decade of management, let's find out his greatest XI of all time. While the tactical genius has implemented many a formation during his career, we choose the trusted 4-2-3-1 to fit in the best players.
Goalkeeper - Manuel Neuer
The quality of players Guardiola has managed is top-class. As a result, there is competition for almost every spot in his greatest XI. However, there are a couple of names who are sure-shot selections in the XI. One of them is goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who is arguably one of the greatest keepers of all time.
While Victor Valdes has definitely won more titles, Neuer is the better goalkeeper. Such have been his contributions that the Bayern Munich shot-stopper has redefined and popularized the sweeper-keeper role single-handedly.
Also Read: 5 greatest German goalkeepers of all time
Nowadays, every top team wants their goalkeeper to be good with the ball at their feet. A part of the credit goes to Pep for bringing this aspect to the game and to Neuer for showing how it is done.
Further, the 2014 FIFA World Cup winner with Germany is no slouch with the gloves either. His reflexes are right there amongst the best, and he is arguably the most complete goalkeeper of this generation.
Thus, it is a no-brainer for Neuer to take the goalkeeping slot on this XI.