After Manchester City was eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid for the fourth time in 5 years with a heavy 1-5 defeat overall, another European campaign ended in disappointment for coach Pep Guardiola.
So why does the 55-year-old coach have to struggle so much to transform periods of domestic dominance into continuous glory in the continental arena, or are the standards we are using to evaluate him too strict?
A special relationship with the Champions League since the Barcelona era
The Spanish strategist has always had a special relationship with the Champions League, stemming from his time playing for Barcelona under the guidance of Johan Cruyff. He was a member of the team that won the first European championship in club history in 1992.
Then, when returning to lead the Catalan team in 2008, Guardiola immediately brought Barcelona to the top of Europe in his first season, before repeating that achievement in 2011.
In fact, if it weren't for Inter Milan winning Jose Mourinho's treble in 2009-2010, Barcelona with Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta could have become the first team to successfully defend the championship in the modern Champions League era.
A decade of waiting and failure at Bayern Munich
However, Guardiola's initial dominance period gradually became a thing of the past. After returning to coaching in 2013, just one year after leaving Nou Camp, few people believe that it would take him a decade to lift the European cup once again.
At Bayern Munich, Guardiola won three consecutive Bundesliga titles but could not bring the team to the Champions League glory. He left Bayern after three seasons without any European titles, after defeats in the semi-finals against Spanish representatives.
Man City and painful falls in Europe
However, that did not prevent Man City from appointing Guardiola with the expectation of conquering the Champions League. Domestic titles came in succession, but in the continental arena, Man City continuously stumbled. Monaco (round of 16), Liverpool, Tottenham - in a regretful situation when Raheem Sterling's goal was disallowed for offside in 2019 - and Lyon (quarter-finals) both ended their dreams.
When he reached the final in 2021, Guardiola surprised him by not using a defensive midfielder in the 0-1 loss to Chelsea.
Top of 2023 and Real Madrid's nemesis
When Guardiola finally regained the Champions League in 2023, completing the historic treble with Man City, many people believed that it would be a turning point opening up a period of domination. But instead, The Citizens continue to face Real Madrid - a team that has won the championship 15 times, and is also the only opponent to continuously defeat them.
Defeats against Real Madrid are always a turning point. In the 2021-2022 season, Man City seemed to have gone further but were reversed by Karim Benzema at the Bernabeu. In 2024, they lost 3-4 in the quarter-finals. And this season, they continued to be eliminated with a total score of 1-5.
The match against Real Madrid was Guardiola's 191st match in the Champions League, with 117 wins - a record only behind Carlo Ancelotti. In fact, Ancelotti is also the only person to win more Champions League titles than Guardiola.
Guardiola still has a contract with Man City and implies that he will continue his journey to conquer his fourth Champions League title in his coaching career. This may help him get closer to Ancelotti's record.
However, the big question remains. Is it really a worthy achievement for Guardiola to win only one Champions League title in more than a decade of leading the strongest teams in Germany and England - while Jurgen Klopp has four times reached the final with Dortmund and Liverpool?
