“No one is a prophet in his country» according to the cliché expression, the Spanish equivalent of which must resonate strongly in the mind of Pep Guardiola… Finally, he would still have to consider himself truly Spanish. Because like Kylian Mbappé, but not necessarily for the same reasons, the Spanish technician has often been a victim of his success in his country of birth, namely Spain. Today, his repeated road trips with Manchester City are celebrated as a victory by some of his compatriots. Obviously, from an outside point of view, this situation may be surprising, but in the country of Cervantes, not really. Although he played for 11 years at Barça, between 1990 and 2001, then officiated and won everything as a coach between 2008 and 2012, Guardiola has never shown deep attachments or expressed any feeling of belonging to Spain.
Worse, he even displayed, even hammered home his demands and positions for the independence of Catalonia, to the detriment of the Spanish entity. Which may have offended certain sensibilities, and damaged its image. “People are happy with Guardiola’s defeats because he was international 47 times with Spain, hung up his boots, and the next day he declared he was a Catalan separatist. Many think that Guardiola is a hypocritical character, because he never showed it (his independence beliefs when he played). I felt cheated personallyexplains Spanish journalist Juanma Rodríguez for Relevo. He could have done like Oleguer Presas (a former Barça player who gave up playing for Spain because he felt more Catalan than Spanish). When we don’t want to, we resign.” As a reminder, Guardiola still participated in the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992, under the colors of Spain, then in the 1994 World Cup and Euro 2000.
Political reasons, but also a very divisive personality
If he maintains a significant popularity rating in Catalonia, Pep Guardiola cannot say the same in the capital, Madrid, where many people deeply reject him. There are necessarily motivations linked to the rivalry between Barça, the club of his life, and Real Madrid, which he often scattered during Clasicos, but his very divisive personality also has a lot to do with it. “ “There is one factor that explains this disenchantment with Guardiola: his arrogance. People see Guardiola as an individualist, a person who only wants to make his own way, and who covers himself with false modesty, sometimes saying that he is not the best, but who, deep down, thinks that he is here to write history.”
Perhaps taking the reins of the Spanish selection in recent years, when La Roja was slipping and continued to look for itself after the departure of Vicente del Bosque, could have smoothed its image among the Spanish people. But Guardiola has never really shown the desire, and that is why he has been more linked to the Brazilian and English selections recently. Another element of response which could explain the euphoria created in Spain by its recent misfortunes: the rarity of its failures. By managing Barça, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City, Guardiola has not really needed to dribble 1000 obstacles to win titles, which is something he is sometimes criticized for. “He always did well and people waited to see how he would react when things went wrong”explains the journalist from Chiringuito. It’s the price of glory, and for once, Guardiola’s ability to bounce back will be put to the test.
