Paying the cost of being the boss

Since he became coach of Barcelona in 2008, Pep Guardiola has taken the Catalan side to new heights: three consecutive league titles, and the possibility of a second Champions League trophy in three seasons if Barça overcomes Manchester United in the final at Wembley (where Johan Cruyff oversaw the club's first European triumph in 1992) on May 28.

In his first season in charge, Guardiola led Barcelona to a historic treble of La Liga, Champions League and King's Cup victories. The Spanish Supercup, and the European Supercup followed at the beginning of the 2009-10 season, and the Fifa Club World Cup was added to Barça's extraordinary haul in December, 2009. Last season saw the side gain an incredible 31 wins in a 38-game season with a record total of 99 points, a feat they will be unable to repeat this year, leaving at least one Holy Grail, the 100-point Liga win, to be pursued.

In his first season in charge, Guardiola led Barcelona to an historic treble

"I have learnt that if something doesn't work, something has to change"

Inevitably, success has taken its toll, and those close to Guardiola say that he is unsure how much longer he can or wants to take the pressure, and that at the age of 40 he is seriously considering retiring. In July 2010 he renewed his contract until June this year, and then in January, he signed up for another season, until June 2012.

Real Madrid, and coach José Mourinho, have made no small contribution to Guardiola's soaring stress levels and hair loss. Barcelona and Real played four very tense games against each other in just three weeks during April and May.

Mourinho's famous off-field psychological tactics incited a normally composed Guardiola to vent an expletive-filled rant at his Portuguese counterpart for remarks he made about a potential refereeing appointment during the first leg of the Champions League semifinals. Mourinho also attacked Barcelona's approach to the game as "unsporting," claiming that the Catalans' silverware was "dishonorably won."

"Pep is a romantic, and if you ask him about the effect of those games, he will tell you that it has affected him for the worse as a person," says a close colleague. In short, he has made it clear that he doesn't want to go through the same situation again, which in Spanish soccer's two-horse race, is nigh inevitable. The war of words with Mourinho that raged before, during and after the two sides' clashes was the icing on the cake of a season that began with conflict between Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic spent just one season at Barcelona following a 50-million-euro switch from Inter Milan that saw Samuel Eto'o move in the opposite direction. The forward said there was just one man to blame for his career at Barça being truncated so quickly.

"I only had problems with one person. I got on well with my teammates and I want to take this opportunity to say that I had a great relationship with both the club and the fans," the Swede told La Gazzetta dello Sport. Ibrahimovic, a man not known for his tact or humility, blamed Guardiola for his less than stellar career at the club and for wasting his time.

"When I walk into a room, Guardiola will walk out... I don't know if he is scared of me. He is the philosopher who has broken my dream of being at Barcelona. The coach did not want me and I will not waste any more time. I want to retrieve my love of the game with another team. I leave with more motivation and the strength to do better. In soccer, things can change within 24 hours," said Ibrahimovic in the run-up to his departure from Barcelona in the summer of 2010.

Although Barcelona's management publicly disassociated itself from the problems between Guardiola and Ibrahimovic, it eventually ceded to the coach, and sold the Swedish international.

Guardiola was grateful for the support he received. Although he was responsible for signing Ibrahimovic, he soon realized that he was incompatible with Lionel Messi, a fact that became immediately apparent after the Swede left. "I'll manage, with the help of Messi," said Guardiola after Ibrahimovic departed for Italy.

For Guardiola, Messi is the lynchpin of the team, which is why he had no hesitation in getting rid of Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho, whom he also felt could not fit into his new scheme.

"I have learnt that if something doesn't work, then there is no point in insisting, something has to change," said Guardiola. And once Ibrahimovic had gone, to be replaced with David Villa, the coach expressed his confidence that the side would work the way he wanted.

Nevertheless, the lack of time to prepare for this season - given the demands of the World Cup on the eight members of Barcelona's side that made the journey to South Africa - meant that the priority was to make sure Real Madrid did not build up an early lead in La Liga. "It was a real risk, and the coach even went so far as to say that we might have to do some catching up," says one Barcelona player.

And those fears were initially confirmed when Barcelona lost early on in the season to Hércules. But things soon picked up with wins against Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. It was clear that Barcelona's playing style had improved over the previous year.

The turning point came in this season's first clash against Real Madrid, which Barcelona won 5-0 at Camp Nou. The home side judged the game - the importance of which was highlighted by it being put off a day so as not to clash with the Catalan regional elections on November 30 - perfectly. Again, there was bad blood. Barcelona was still smarting from having been knocked out of the Champions League the season before by Mourinho's Inter Milan, and Real was strutting its stuff, claiming that the tide had turned and it was taking over Spanish soccer. But Barcelona's win gave it the lead in the league title race - a lead it never ceded.

Messi's hard work has been crucial to Guardiola's success. The Argentinean international played number nine, allowing him to act as a midfield force, and giving space to David Villa on the wing. The side's tiki-taka passing style was a joy to watch, earning the praise of new signing Javier Mascherano, who said: "Those small guys can really play!" The Xavi-Iniesta-Messi troika works like a machine, with Mascherano and Adriano beefing up the defense.

But Guardiola was already concerned that the side was resting on its laurels. He was afraid that the same problems that afflicted the "Dream Team" of Johan Cruyff and Frank Rijkaard's star-studded side would re-emerge and sought new ways to inspire his players to keep up the pace. All while maintaining the delicate balance between the discipline and respect a manager must impose, and maintaining high morale.

"Iniesta's goal at Stamford Bridge took us to that year's Champions' League final because the entire team's desire to win was energized into his legs," said Guardiola after the semifinal. But that win came at a time when Barcelona seemed to be slackening. "We have to feel that our lives are at risk," said the coach at the time. Guardiola managed to pull the side together, keeping their hopes alive, and pushing them to new heights.

The coach was under pressure from all corners. At the beginning of this season the side's supporters called for action against the board of former president Joan Laporta for financial mismanagement. The supporters' association brought legal proceedings in the form of a corporate liability action against Laporta's management team to explain the cumulative losses suffered by the club of 48.7 million eurosduring the period from 2003 until 2007, as well as the ¤78m deficit suffered at the end of the 2009-10 campaign.

The incoming board, supervised by newly appointed president Sandro Rosell, voted in favor of taking the unprecedented action.

Matters were not helped mid-season by comments that Guardiola made in an interview with the Italian sports press where he raised the issue of his doubts about continuing as coach. Then there were questions over possible conflicts of interest after it was revealed that Guardiola's brother Pere, along with the coach's agent Josep Maria Orobitg, were acting as representatives of players in the Barcelona squad.

More recently, a presenter on Catholic-Church-run radio station Cope accused the side of doping. It was then announced that defender Gerard Piqué was romantically involved with Colombian pop star Shakira, prompting the nation's paparazzi to camp outside the ground for several days.

This season was made especially tough by the four games against a Madrid that has adopted a more aggressive approach than ever. In the first encounter, a league game, the two sides failed to connect decisively, and settled for a 1-1 tie. Madrid came out fighting in the final of the King's Cup, winning the first silverware of Mourinho's reign with a first cup win since 1993. Barcelona won the first leg of the Champions' League semifinal 2-0 at the Bernabéu, prompting an outpouring of scorn from Mourinho after his tactics backfired and he was banned from the touchline. Nevertheless, fearful that Madrid was gaining the upper hand psychologically, Guardiola realized that he had to make a public gesture of support for his players in the face of the Madrid coach's increasingly strident comments, putting Mourinho in his place when he insinuated that his rival was better at holding press conferences than in organizing his side. The final match witnessed more soccer than spats and both sides played well in a 1-1 tie that saw Barça through to its second final in three years.

But Guardiola found the experience emotionally draining, and he is said to have considered throwing in the towel on a number of occasions during April and early May. But with the support of his players, he has again found his focus.

"The Champions League might be more glamorous, but the league is the only real tournament, because it is the reward for the whole season," says Guardiola.

Having agreed to stay on for another season, Guardiola is already looking ahead to September. There will be new signings this summer, and new talent from the youth squad will be incorporated into the side.

Guardiola's Barcelona has emerged victorious after a shaky start to the season. He knows all too well that World Cups take their toll on the side.

The Dream Team of the early 1990s fell apart after the 1994 World Cup in the United States, while Ronaldinho's star waned rapidly after the Germany World Cup of 2006. Barcelona is above all a club that likes continuity: even when a new president comes in, it has traditionally taken a couple of seasons for the side to find its feet. Not since the days of Cruyff had the side won three consecutive league titles. So nobody in Barcelona will be keen to see Guardiola leave any time soon.

Quite what the club's management can do to encourage Guardiola to stay on for another year remains unclear: it is true that he has had to face the media and his rivals alone. He will have learnt a great deal this year; and he has aged quickly. For the moment, his sights are set on Wembley, and the Champions League final against Manchester United. The outcome of that match will doubtless play a crucial role in Guardiola's plans for the future.