Spanish Sportspeople in Doping Cases - Josep Guardiola (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Josep "Pep" Guardiola i Sala (Catalan pronunciation: born 18 January 1971 in Santpedor, Barcelona, Catalonia), is a Spanish football manager and former player. Guardiola played as a defensive midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career with Barcelona, whom he currently manages. He was part of Johan Cruyff's dream team that won Barcelona's first European Cup. Guardiola also played for Brescia Calcio, A.S. Roma, Al-Ahli and Dorados de Sinaloa. As an international, he played for Spain and some friendly exhibition games for Catalonia. After retiring as a player, Guardiola became coach of Barcelona B. On 8 May 2008, Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that Guardiola would succeed Frank Rijkaard as the first team manager. He signed his contract on 5 June 2008. In his first season as manager, Barcelona won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest UEFA Champions League winning manager ever. The following season, Guardiola and Barcelona won the Supercopa de Espaa against Athletic Club Bilbao, the UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, and the FIFA Club World Cup against Estudiantes, bringing the manager's tally to a perfect six trophies in six competitions thus completing the first ever sextuple. Guardiola joined La Masia at the age of 13 and rose through the ranks at the youth academy of Barcelona for six years, making his dbut in 1990 against Cdiz. As Phil Ball writes in Morbo, Johan Cruyff utilised the young defensive midfielder in the absence of the suspended Guillermo Amor. He became a first team regular in the 1991-92 season and at only 20 years old was a key component of a side that won La Liga, the European Cup and the Spain national side that triump... More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=2396553