How Pep Guardiola TRANSFORMED Manchester City into TREBLE Winners!

In June of 2023, Manchester City pulled off the seemingly impossible when they defeated Inter Milan in the Champions League final to win their first European crown, something many believed they were cursed to do. This is the crown jewel of Pep Guardiola's tenure on the blue side of Manchester. He won his second European treble and the second treble to be won by an English club after Manchester United back in 1999. But how did they get there? City were relegated in the Premier League era, and even after the infamous Aguero moment that won them the league, they didn't come close to winning the big one. Well, that's all the work of possibly the best football manager in the 21st century, Josep Guardiola. Before we dive in, we need to know the history of the club founded in 1880. City started as a club for religious working-class men in Manchester named St. Mark's FC, and after that, they switched to Ardwick Association Football Club before becoming Manchester City and settling on their now iconic sky blue colours. They were a relatively mediocre team for most of their history, only getting a couple of cup victories in the 60s and 70s following their first FA Cup win in 1904. Six seasons into the formation of the Premier League, Manchester City were relegated after flirting with the drop zone in every season before then. Not a lot is said about this, but the citizens were relegated to the third tier of English football, known today as League One. This is a fate only a few Premier League teams recover from. However, it didn't take long for them to get back to the top flight. 2002 was the year, and they'd been in the division since then, but they lingered in mid-table mediocrity. Sven-Goran Eriksson and Mark Hughes' managers weren't going to cut it if this club had ambition. Frankly, mid-2000s City had anything but ambition when that would all change when the Arabs arrived. In 2008, the Abu Dhabi United group, led by Emirati billionaire Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nayef, or Sheikh Mansour to anyone who doesn't want to bite their tongue, bought the citizens as a part of their growing investment in football. The very next season, they brought in Roberto Mancini as manager and signed Rabinho. It was a strange time when the club was signing anyone with their new money because they still had the scouts they did when they conceded 8 to Barra. After a massive overhaul though, where they got David Silva, Yaya Torre and Samir Nasri, City won the FA Cup in 2011, their first trophy of the century, and with that momentum went into the transfer market and got themselves arguably the greatest player in their history. Sergio Aguero's arrival from Atlético Madrid was an absolute game-changer, and it culminated in an amazing season where they won the Premier League, snatching it from their bitter rivals Man Utd on goal difference. They went on to snatch the title again in 2014, following an embarrassing FA Cup final loss to Wigan Athletic that got Mancini booted out. Pellegrini took the title from Liverpool, starting a rivalry that would define the Premier League title race from the late 2010s to the early 2020s. However, after two seasons without the Premier League and no hope of winning the Champions League, City's owners decided it was time for a change, which came in the summer of 2016. Around the time that Manchester City were being acquired by the crazy-rich Arabs, Pep Guardiola was promoted to the job of Barcelona head coach, following a single season at the Barcelona B team, and went on to sell fan favourites like Ronaldinho and Deco in his first season. While his first season was rocky, keep that in mind for later, the next season he delivered one of the best in football, Pep won La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Champions League. What can't be denied was that he implemented a unique footballing philosophy, that drew on the work of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff while taking advantage of the youth in the team. Young players like Sergio Busquets, Andre Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Dani Alves and most notably Lionel Messi had their breakout that season. Two seasons later, following the buying and selling of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the sales of Samuel Eto'o and Yahya Toure, he won his second European crown, beating Manchester United once again like he did in 2009. Pep left Barcelona at the end of the 2011-12 season, and midway through the 2012-13 campaign, after a period on the sidelines, Bayern Munich announced that Guardiola would be joining them at the end of the season. And yes, while Pep didn't win the Champions League, you can say he began the long trend of Bayern winning the Bundesliga consecutively, as their 11-year streak began with his first three trophies. It was while in Bayern that we got the iconic 5 goals in a 9-minute haul from Robert Lewandowski. He also developed Joshua Kimmich into a formidable for the Bavarians long term. If he had stayed, they likely would have won the Champions League. He left when Sheikh Mansour called having won multiple trophies and leading his men to 254 goals in 102 Bundesliga games, a record yet to be broken. This usually gets swept under the rug, especially when placed side by side with the rest of his achievements, but his first season at Manchester City was not a pretty one. For starters, he wanted to build a team in his image, like how he did in his first Barcelona season. Much like at Barca, however, it meant that several key players had to be shifted out and replaced. Chief among them was Joe Hart, an ever-reliable shot-stopper, but who wasn't good with the ball at his feet. Pep's signings, believe it or not, were not remarkable, especially compared to the signings he'd go on to make. John Stones from Everton, Leroy Sané from Schalke, and Ilkay Gundogan from Dortmund. All good names, yes, but at the time they weren't marquee. And as for Claudio Bravo and Nolito, let's just say there's a reason we don't talk about them now. That said, he had a decent squad that featured Aguero up top, Sterling on the wing, and a Red Hot de Brunner in midfield. This was not enough though, as they went trophy-less, an almost unheard occurrence for Pep. They finished third in the league, behind Conte's Chelsea and Spurs in second. Also, they bottled against Monaco and got dumped out of the Champions League in the quarter-final, starting a negative trend. After this season, you can understand why many thought Pep was washed or he just couldn't handle the Premier League, even though that was far from a bad season that most other clubs would have accepted. That said, he took the disrespect to heart and came back the next season with a vengeance. Manchester City won the Premier League the next season with 100 points, still considered by many to be the greatest Premier League season of all time. But how did they go from that debut season to this unstoppable machine? Well, that shouldn't shock anyone who saw Pep's work with Barca. He made the team his image and style of play, letting go of the last deadweights in the In their place arrived big names for big money. It's not an exaggeration to say he built the team from the ground up. Emerick Laporte, Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Bernardo Silva, Gabriel Jesus and goalkeeper Ederson. They won the league with a huge 19-point difference, not giving Manchester United in second place a chance. Pep also beat Arsenal 3-0 in the EFL Cup final to win his first trophy at the club. This season can very well be seen as the beginning of the Pep era of Premier League dominance. Once again though, their run of dropping out in the Champions League quarterfinal continued as they bottled their first leg aggregate against Liverpool. Still, this was a legendary campaign that would only be continued the next season. Liverpool, their biggest rivals, decided to step up the next season and together they engaged in the most heated title race since they last went at it in 2014. This season, they only made one signing Riyad Mahrez, who nearly cost them the league with a missed penalty. They had the team from 2017-18 mostly, and while individually they didn't deliver like Liverpool's most salient, Sadio Mane, Trent Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, they had enough of a coordinated effort as a team to edge past the Not just that, but they won the FA Cup and League Cup, a rare domestic treble. Sadly, they once again dropped out of the Champions League quarterfinals for the third consecutive season under Pep, after a great comeback from Spurs. We'll give a spoiler quickly, this happened the next season as well. City bottled the Champions League quarterfinals against Lyon of all teams, making it four seasons in a row. 19-20 was a low point, and ended the first run of the hot years as they only won the EFL Cup, making it three years in a row in that competition, so at least a positive streak was growing. That said, Pep lost the FA Cup semi-final to his very own student Mikel Arteta, who went on to win the tournament. Liverpool also had their crowning moment as league champions, winning it with 99 points in the season that was eerily like Man City's centurions and broke records. It was clear that a lot needed to change, but a 4-0 win against the Reds near the end of the season made it clear that the next season was going to be a big one. The season before, Pep signed Joao Cancelo and Rondri, both of whom would go on to be impactful, but it was in the summer of 2020 that they made the signing that catapulted them to another title, Ruben Dias. The Portuguese made an impact in what was becoming a weakening backline, bringing an aura of leadership and commanding presence as well as being good on the ball and an effective tackler. He became a permanent fixture in defense and revitalized John Stones, while delivering standout performances with Emerick Laporte. Even when paired with Nathan Ake, he showed out when he could. Rightfully, he won the FWA and PFA Player of the Season, the latter he became the first player to win in his debut season since Zola in 1996. They kept a clean sheet in half of his appearances for the club that season. Away from Dias and to the team in general, they were fantastic. Once again, they didn't have a standout goalscorer, so Gundogan had to step in and fill that role with 13 league goals. The fact that they still thrived enough to win the league is a testament to Pep's amazing football tactics and philosophy. Oh, and they won their fourth straight EFL trophy. It's crazy how this became their trophy. And yes, they broke their quarterfinal Champions League curse at last and reached the final only to lose to Chelsea. 86 points was a respectable season, and it seemed like they could follow it up, but after Aguero departed, how did they perform the next season? They barely retained their league title in another tied title race with Liverpool. On the final day, they went two down at home to Aston Villa, but like in true city style, they came back to win 3-2 and the Premier League title. Without Aguero, they had to experiment with the false nine position, using Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Brene and Riyad Mahrez. At this point, it was clear they needed to invest in a centre-forward. Jesus wasn't consistent enough for this season and their plans. City once again put on a fight in the Champions League that took them to the semi-finals against eventual winners Real Madrid, where they lost 6-5. And, most painfully, their streak of being EFL Cup winners ended as they were knocked out in the fourth round. Also, they splashed the cash on Jack Grealish, who frankly flopped that season. However, the way they won the title had shades of the Aguero moment, with Gundogan scoring a brace to overturn Villa's lead. Dramatic as it was, Pep knew he had an Aguero-shaped hole to fill, and the next summer he did that. Erling Haaland arrived in Manchester following two-and-a-half fantastic seasons at Borussia Dortmund, where he broke all sorts of records. The Sky Blues triggered his release clause and, with his connections to the club thanks to his father, Alfie Haaland, he jumped ship. Following him was soon-to-be World Cup-winning striker Julian Alvarez from River Plate, Haaland's Dortmund teammate Manuel Akanji and, er, Calvin Phillips, the Black Sheep. But they let players go as well, Raheem Sterling, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko all moved to their rivals. Still, this would go on to be the season that helped City rise to the top of Europe. Haaland was deadly this season, having no doubt the best debut season in Premier League history, where he broke record after record. This was a Ballon d'Or-worthy season, 36 goals in the league, 52 overall. Alvarez, KDB, Foden and Mahrez were all consistent. Their backline was solid, with Ake now maturing and constant rotations happening. The only failure of this season is that they went another year without their darling EFL Cup. That aside, their road to the Champions League was one of determination. They had a point to prove, Pep had a point to prove. The citizens beat Bayern 3-0 and embarrassed Leroy Sane, who left them to win the Champions League. They hammered Real Madrid 4-0 as payback for the season before. This wasn't an easy road at all for the citizens. They made it their mission to prove the doubters wrong, and that they did. No bottling, Pep didn't choke and they triumphed, winning the crown. This comes after a tight race with Arsenal that saw them prevail like they did with Liverpool and an FA Cup final win against their derby rivals. This wasn't all down to Haaland's brilliance, but Pep deciding the disrespect was enough and making a point. And a point he made. Pep Guardiola has done it. He's achieved what he set out to achieve and has proved the doubters wrong. We still think he may leave soon, but before that he wants to put Man City in a position where they can thrive without him, like how he did at Bayern and Barca. Regardless, this is how Pep turned Man City into treble winners. He implemented a strong philosophy, got the players he needed and it paid results. He is truly head and shoulders above the rest. We hope you enjoyed the video. Make sure you like the video, hit the subscribe button and ring the bell for notifications so you don't miss an extensive football documentary like this again.