Pep Guardiola on the brink of greatness as Barcelona coach eyes the perfect 10



By Pete Jenson for the Daily Mail

THE GAME IN SPAIN



And now for No 10. Barcelona supporters will line the streets around the Camp Nou on Friday evening as the team embark on a victory parade after winning the league but Pep Guardiola will already be thinking about the Champions League final and the chance to claim his 10th trophy.

To put that record into perspective, the last Barcelona coach to win three leagues in a row, Johan Cruyff, lifted 12 cups in seven seasons. Guardiola already has nine in the cabinet and he is still to reach the end of his third campaign.

Happy days: coach Pep Guardiola, center, leads the title party

During his playing career, those who did not see eye to eye with Guardiola sarcastically nicknamed him 'the legend' – a reference to what they saw as his exaggerated sense of what Barcelona meant and the responsibility the players had to uphold the values of the club.

His trophy haul since taking over as coach in 2008 makes it difficult to imagine he will not genuinely be remembered that way when he finally walks away from what he has admitted privately this season is a job that is ageing him fast.

'The biggest risk is not taking any risks,' he said, summing up his football philosophy. Easy to follow when you have Leo Messi and co, say those who believe as good as he is, Barcelona is a luxury liner that sails itself.

Maybe his status as a truly great manager will not be cemented until he has proved himself away from the Camp Nou as he will probably try to do after two more seasons at the helm in Catalunya. But a great Barcelona manager, he has already proved himself to be.

This has been Guardiola's title. Maybe, as he often implied, the players were carrying him during the first two seasons but this time he has carried them.

He has won the club's 21st title with a squad suffering the hangover of making up a large part of Spain's World Cup winning side last summer.

He shouldered the burden of new president, Sandro Rosell, who stumbled through his first year in office at times only ever opening his mouth to put his foot in it



He watched the club miss out on Cesc Fabregas last summer and sell central defender

Dmytro Chygrynskiy without replacing him.

He was threatened by outgoing striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who made thinly veiled threats to the coach he disparagingly called 'The Philosopher' as he was shipped out to Milan to make way for David Villa.

He was hospitalized with a slipped disc, bullied into signing a contract extension despite stating his preference for renewing at the end of every season, and he was forced to field 24 different back four combinations because of a catalogue of defensive injuries.

Easy does it: Barcelona can afford to take risks when they boast the likes of Lionel Messi

He was also charged with guiding his squad through four clasicos in three weeks, each one intensified by his new direct rival Jose Mourinho – the man who had turned up to knock him off his perch. And all this, as his players came to terms with news Eric Abidal needed surgery to remove a tumour on his liver.

Some believed as he addressed the press before the second Champions League semi-final referring to Jose Mourinho as the 'f***ing boss' who had 'won his Champions League of press conferences', that the strain had finally got to him but his players applauded the discourse and responded by knocking Madrid out of Europe.

On Wednesday night in Valencia, before answering questions about another league won, he passed on the club's condolences to the people of Lorca, the Spanish town hit by an earthquake that same evening. It was typical statesmanship from Guardiola, alongside whom, Mourinho has at times this season looked a little too out of control even for lovers of mavericks of the game.

'Perhaps the Cope and Senor Florentino Perez should get their story straight,' he said as a Madrid-based radio station made claims in March that Barcelona players were taking illegal substances. The broadcasters said their information had come from Real Madrid who denied any involvement.

He probably 'p***** perfume' wrote one Madrid columnist annoyed by the Mr Perfect image.



'Maybe I do,' was Guardiola's smiling response. He had an answer for everything this season. Mourinho will be back with more questions next term but by the time they meet again the Barcelona coach may already have won trophy No 10.



NAGGING DOUBTS OVER RONALDO RECORD



Cristiano Ronaldo goes in search of his 50th goal of the season on Sunday against Villarreal. No-one has ever scored more goals for the club in one season.



Ferenc Puskas scored 47 in the 1959-60 season but Ronaldo passed that milestone on Tuesday with two games to spare. He also became the first player to score six hat-tricks in one season in Spain.

Hot shot: Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo bagged his sixth hat-trick against Getafe

If he scores two more in the league in his last two matches he will equal Hugo Sanchez and Telmo Zarra's jointly-held record of 38 league goals in one season. Three more goals and he has his own place in history.

Even the Brazilian Ronaldo’s achievements have been dwarfed by the statistics. He scored 62 in his first two seasons at Real Madrid – 20 less than the former Manchester United forward in the same period.



One of Jose Mourinho's pre-season aims was to get the best out of his fellow countryman and the goal record suggest he has although there will be a nagging doubt for both men.



Ronaldo was rested against Zaragoza and Sporting Gijon – Madrid’s only two home defeats of the season. Another six Ronaldo-inspired points and the title race might not have ended with 180 minutes still left on the clock.



CAMUNAS IS A BLOODY HERO

Never let it be said that La Liga's finest don't know how to stay on their feet.



With his team needing a win and only drawing with a minute left of Wednesday's game with Sevilla, relegation threatened Osasuna's Javier Camunas was inside the penalty area when opposing full-back Dabo struck him in the face drawing blood.



Time stood still as Camuñas thought about going down for a penalty but he spotted team-mate Dejan Lekic unmarked to his right and instead played the pass allowing Lekic to score.



Osasuna won 3-2 having been 2-0 down and still have a chance of staying up – Javier Camunas, the bloody hero who shames every player who has gone down clutching his face with no good reason this season.



