Sign up to FREE email alerts from Mirror - Real Madrid CF Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Pep Guardiola was the man who created a dynasty at Barcelona .

And Real Madrid , the team most damaged by Guardiola's phenomenal success, last year tried to hire the Catalan in what would have been a sensational crossing of Spain's clásico divide.

With the 45-year-old's intention of leaving Bayern Munich already known, there was a scramble among Premier League clubs in particular last season to secure the signature of the world's best coach.

But, in an amazing twist, Florentino Perez attempted to lure him to the Bernabeu according to Guardiola's friend and biographer Marti Perarnau.

"Real Madrid called Pep Guardiola to try and tempt him last November, before they sacked Benitez," he revealed on Spanish radio station Cadena Ser.

(Image: Getty)

(Image: GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)

"Madrid contacted [Josep Maria] Orobitg, Guardiola's agent, in order to try and contract him.

"But from the start it was out of the question. I was there."

, albeit without informing Rafa himself who had to find out via friends in the media trying to confirm the news.

The now-Newcastle manager

, a promotion from within reminiscent of Guardiola's rise through the Barcelona ranks and he matched the Catalan coach in winning the Champions League in his first season in charge.