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Pep Guardiola faces day of reckoning against Barcelona in Champions League

Pep Guardiola faces day of reckoning against Barcelona in Champions League

It's ironic that Pep Guardiola should face what's shaping up to be the biggest test of his managerial career against a team he helped build. The Catalan coach returns home to Barcelona to face his old team in Wednesday's Champions League semifinal first leg without key members of his squad due to injury and with Bayern Munich no longer the favorite to win the title. And it's not just his team's survival in the competition that could be at stake but also maybe his job and his very legacy as a coach.

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The traumatic manner in which Bayern was blown out of the competition on a 5-0 aggregate by Real Madrid last season was the first time Guardiola was seen to have truly got it all wrong. At the time, Bayern's elimination was seen as something of a fluke. But if Bayern falls to Barcelona at the same hurdle this season, it will resemble more of a pattern.

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Perhaps Guardiola's tenure at Bayern was doomed to fail from the start. In January of 2013, he announced he would be taking charge of the Bundesliga powerhouse, and the decision, while somewhat unexpected, seemed to be a match made in soccer heaven. It's just the timing that was a little awkward.

Jupp Heynckes, then the coach of Bayern, was still set to remain on the job for six months, and he wasn't about to go quietly. Heynckes, 67 at the time, was none too pleased with the media hype surrounding his successor's appointment. Nor was he content with being written out of the script while everyone held their breath awaiting the arrival of the "chosen one."

In his final season before calling time on a decorated career, Heynckes led Bayern Munich to a historic treble of the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League titles. His team played with a high-energy, smash-and-grab style that was exciting and, yes, attractive to watch. Bayern's success only seemed to increase the sense of excitement surrounding Guardiola's arrival.

Unfortunately for him, there was really only one way to go – down.

Guardiola was always going to be measured by how the club performed in Europe. But how does one improve upon a season in which a club wins all the major trophies available to it? By winning them again with more style?

That, along with establishing European dominance, seemed to be Guardiola's directive when he took charge. But style is a subjective matter. Many have criticized Guardiola's "don't call it tiki taka" possession-based game for undermining the attacking directness that made Bayern so successful under Heynckes. And while no one quite expected the veteran German tactician to go out with such a bang, looking back now, it's unfortunate Guardiola didn't consider one of the other clubs that were clambering over each other for his services at the time.

Sir Alex Ferguson was retiring at the end of the 2012-13 season. If Guardiola had waited, he could've taken charge of rebuilding Manchester United. He'd have been unlikely to win a treble in his first season, but he'd have surely done a better job than David Moyes. And Guardiola would've been given more support from the club, players and fans than the unfortunate Scot was afforded.

Manchester City also had a vacancy, having sacked Roberto Mancini in the closing weeks of a trophy-less season in which it failed to defend the Premier League title. With either of these Manchester clubs, Guardiola would have had more leeway to build gradually instead of the impossible task of improving upon a season that was already nearly perfect.

Following Chelsea's clinching ofthe Premier League title, Jose Mourinho appeared to take a swipe at Guardiola. "I could choose another club in another country where to be champion is easier," he said. "I choose a club where I was happier before and a country where you are happy before. I took a risk."

If Guardiola's Bayern is knocked out of the Champions League by Barça, it's not as if he'll be short of future job offers. But injuries aside, with the squad at his disposal, failing to reach – let alone win – the Champions League final for the second straight season will take some of the sheen off his glittering persona.

Perhaps Pep and his team can take inspiration from the last time Bayern Munich met Barcelona in the Champions League, when the Bavarians crushed the Catalans 7-0. Bayern's coach at the time? Jupp Heynckes.