The Catalan figure has reached two finals as a player, lifting one trophy, and has already qualified for three finals as a coach.
The dream of winning the UEFA Champions League is shared by every footballer and manager, and achieving it even once is hard. Doing it multiple times, and in both roles, places someone among a rarefied group. Pep Guardiola is one of the few who achieved this feat, lifting the trophy as a player and later as a coach, with three wins in the four finals he has played in the competition.
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As a player: two finals, one title
The midfielder from Barcelona tasted Champions League glory in the 1991-1992 season, during his first campaign with the Blaugrana. He started the final against Sampdoria, a match decided by Koeman’s iconic strike at Wembley.
In 1994, Guardiola returned to the final as a player, this time facing Milan in Athens, where Barcelona were defeated 4-0 under Fabio Capello in a difficult night for him personally.
Despite that setback, he did not win the European Cup with Barça again, though he did claim the European Super Cup twice (1992-93 and 1997-98) and the Recopa in 1996-97 with the club.
As a coach: three finals and two titles
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As a manager, Guardiola captured the Champions League in his first year at the helm of Barcelona, lifting the trophy in the 2008-2009 season against Manchester United in a Rome final. He repeated the feat in 2010-11, beating the same opponent at Wembley.
In the 2009-10 and 2011-12 campaigns, still with Barcelona, he was eliminated in the semifinals by teams that would go on to win the title, Inter and Chelsea, respectively.
With Bayern Munich he faced semifinal exits in 2014, 2015 and 2016, against Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid. Later, with Manchester City, he faced knockout heartbreaks in early rounds—first round against Monaco and a quarterfinal clash with Liverpool. The same story repeated in the 2018-19 season, when a dramatic 4-4 home draw and subsequent exit to Tottenham marked another tough setback, and in 2020, when City were eliminated by Olympique Lyon in the quarterfinals.
Finally, in 2021 Guardiola steered Manchester City back to the final after a decade without reaching it. The Citizens defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain to reach the decider in Porto, only to lose 0-1 to Chelsea, marking the first time he tasted a defeat in a Champions League final as a coach.
Source: Goal