Pep Guardiola has played against more than 30 English Premier League (EPL) coaches in the course of his coaching career at Manchester City. Only three of these managers have completed a league double over the Spaniard. Who are these tacticians and how did they do it?...CONTINUE READING
The first manager to beat this Spanish coach home and away in the EPL is Antonio Conte. This Italian gaffer was in charge of Chelsea when he had his first encounter with Guardiola in 2016/17 season. It happened December 3, 2016.
The Blues won the game 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium. Interestingly, the Citizens did not score at all as their only goal was an own goal by Gary Cahill of Chelsea. When they met for the second leg on match day 31, Eden Hazard scored a brace to give Conte a 2-1 win.
Nuno Espírito Santo is another tactician in this category. This Portuguese manager did the double of Guardiola in 2019/20 EPL season. Santo was in charge of Wolves during the period. Adama Traoré netted two unreplied goals for the Wanderers when they met Manchester City on game week 8.
The return leg on match day 19 was more dramatic. Raheem Sterling gave City the lead 25 minutes into the game before doubling the lead early in the second half. Wolves launched a fight back with goals from Adama Traoré, Raúl Jiménez and Matt Doherty. This gave the Portuguese a 3-2 win over Guardiola.
The next coach to achieve a league double over the Spaniard is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a Norwegian. The Manchester United legend did it for the Red Devils in 2019/20 season. Solskjaer got his first clash with Guardiola on match day 16 of the season. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial netted in the first half.
Nicolás Otamendi’s late goal was not enough to rescue a point for the Citizens. When the met in the 29th game week the Red Devils consolidated their dominance with a 2-0 win. Interestingly, the also met twice in the League Cup semi finals but they shared the wins.
