10 managers with the best record against Pep Guardiola

Highlights

• Pep Guardiola’s remarkable managerial record includes 37 trophies in 17 years, with multiple trebles.
• Guardiola has faced top managers like Klopp, Mourinho, and Ancelotti, boasting a positive record against most.
• GIVEMESPORT now takes a look at the ten managers who have beaten the legendary boss the most times over his career.

We all know how legendary Pep Guardiola is. A talented midfielder in his playing days, he was a mainstay in the Barcelona side of the 1990s under managers such as Johan Cruyff, Bobby Robson, and Louis van Gaal. His 21-year career saw him have stints in Italy, Qatar, and Mexico in addition to his time in his native Spain. He also made 47 appearances for the Spanish national team over the course of nine years, scoring five goals.

During that 21-year career he won six La Liga titles, two Copa del Rey’s, four Supercopa’s, a European Cup, a UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, and a European Super Cup, all with Barcelona.

However, it is his managerial career that has had the biggest impact on the footballing world. Some will argue that he is the greatest manager of all time, and they have a right to do so, with his record speaking for itself.

His teams have won a total of 37 trophies in a 17-year managerial career, including multiple trebles and one year in which he won an incredible six trophies. The only manager with more to have managed in a top five European league is Sir Alex Ferguson. He has battled against possibly one of the best managerial generations in the history of football, locking horns with managers such as Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, and Antonio Conte.

Some managers have beaten him more than most, though Guardiola has a positive record against pretty much all of them. GIVEMESPORT takes a look at the ten managers that have beaten the Spaniard the most, which of those victories were the most significant, and why he was beaten on those occasions.

10 Manuel Pellegrini

Two wins

The predecessor to Guardiola at Manchester City, Manuel Pellegrini, rounds out the top ten with two wins. The Chilean manager took charge of Manchester City from 2013-2016 winning a Premier League title and two Football League cups. Both of Pellegrini’s victories came against Guardiola’s Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League group stage in back to back seasons.

Pellegrini beat Guardiola twice in the Champions League group stages in back-to-back seasons, with both victories being 3-2 comebacks. The first saw David Silva, James Milner, and Jesus Navas link up to defeat Bayern at the Allianz Arena and Sergio Aguero showed how much of a hero he would become at City in the 2014 clash scoring a hat-trick, with two goals from the Argentine forward coming in the dying minutes of the game.

9 Carlo Ancelotti

Three wins

The majority of Ancelotti’s games against Guardiola came when the Italian coach was the manager of Everton. However, all the other games occurred with Ancelotti as the manager of Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid ran out 5–0 winners on aggregate against Bayern Munich in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League, one they would go on to win playing against their cross-city rivals Atletico Madrid in Lisbon.

The second semi-final clash between the two proved to be a real humdinger as Real Madrid completed an impressive comeback. Los Blancos seemed destined to win the Champions League that season as their campaign was practically built on miracles. Karim Benzema and Rodrygo starred as Madrid beat City 6-5 on aggregate.

8 Thomas Tuchel

Three wins

Thomas Tuchel’s battles against Guardiola started when he was the manager of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund. His time in his native Germany yielded no victories, but his stint as manager of Chelsea proved to be more successful. Hakim Ziyech proved to be the difference maker in the 2021 FA Cup semi-final, and he also contributed to a 2-1 victory in the Premier League with Marcos Alonso scoring a 92nd minute winner.

However, the most famous win was the 2021 Champions League final. Guardiola controversially decided to move away from a traditional holding midfielder such as Rodri or Fernandinho and instead decided to deploy Ilkay Gundogan as the deepest lying midfielder. This backfired for City as Chelsea played with a never-ending energy and a box midfield that suffocated City and prevented them from creating any consistent threats. Kai Havertz produced the best moment of his career, getting a lucky bounce from Ederson after being played in behind the City defense and slotting home to seal an early victory for the Blues. This was where the lack of a true defensive midfielder became obvious, as Manchester City were cut open by one pass that could have been prevented by a player with better defensive awareness than Gundogan.

7 Mikel Arteta

Three wins

Pep Guardiola was the master, Mikel Arteta was the apprentice. That was the dynamic when the now Arsenal manager was an assistant under the Catalan at Manchester City. Arteta left in December 2019 to take over at Arsenal following the sacking of fellow Gipuzkoa native Unai Emery. Arteta has beaten Guardiola three times, with two of those wins resulting in Arsenal lifting trophies at the expense of City.

Arteta first beat Guardiola in the delayed 2020 FA Cup final, before defeating Pep once again at Wembley three years later in the FA Community shield.

The 2023/24 season provided a victory for Arteta however, with the north London club defeating Manchester City with a late Gabriel Martinelli goal at the Emirates last October. The elation for the players and fans was evident, but Arteta was very clearly delighted to finally defeat his former tutor in the Premier League.

Additionally, this could emerge as a manager rivalry to watch in the future as this is the second straight season where Manchester City and Arsenal have battled it out for the Premier League title.

6 Arsene Wenger

Three wins

Like most managers, Wenger didn’t experience much success against Guardiola from his 14 games. His three victories, however, came against all three of the clubs that Guardiola has managed and Wenger is the only manager to achieve that feat.

The first, in the 2010/11 Champions League, was against Guardiola’s Barcelona. A comeback victory that saw cult hero Andriy Arshavin score the winner. The second was not a typical Arsenal victory as defeats to Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb in the opening two match-days of the 2015/16 Champions League forced the Gunners to play with their backs against the wall against Bayern Munich. A counter-attacking performance saw Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil sink Bayern and keep Arsenal’s knockout hopes alive. The third and final victory for Wenger came against Guardiola’s Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final. Alexis Sanchez and Nacho Monreal scored to advance Arsenal to the final which would become Wenger’s last ever tournament victory for the Gunners.

5 Antonio Conte

Four wins

Antonio Conte is the first manager on this list to have a positive record against Guardiola as he has won four of the seven match-ups between the two. Both managers came to the Premier League in the summer of 2016 with Conte winning the league title with Chelsea that season. Conte’s Blues beat Manchester City home and away that season with Eden Hazard terrorising the side from east Manchester.

However, his more impressive victories, it could be argued, were achieved during his tenure as manager of Tottenham. The 2016/17 version of Manchester City were not the all-conquering side we see today and Antonio Conte’s Spurs were certainly not as fluid or as impressive as the Italian’s league-winning Chelsea side.

The first of the two wins was a five-goal thriller at the Etihad in February 2022. Spurs were clawed back by Manchester City twice during this game, with a Riyad Mahrez equaliser from the penalty spot appearing to seal a valuable point. Dejan Kulusevski had other ideas and, as was often the case during that first half season with Spurs, he used his close control and creative ability to provide Harry Kane with the assist he needed to break the deadlock in the 95th minute. The second victory saw Manchester City dominate possession and create more chances on goal than Spurs, but Kane once again proved to be the difference.

4 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Four wins

A name that might raise a few eyebrows to people outside the Manchester United fan-base, but the Norwegian manager has one of the better records against Guardiola. Four wins, four defeats, and one draw is very respectable with only two managers being able to say they have beaten Pep more than that.

It took just under a year for Solskjaer to win his first Manchester derby since 2007 but Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial fired him to a strong 2-0 victory. A 1-0 victory the next month followed but it wasn’t enough to overturn the first leg defeat that United were dealt by City in the League Cup semi-final.

Additionally, the third win, a 2-0 victory courtesy of a Martial opener and a Scott McTominay 90th minute goal that sealed victory was one of the last games before football was paused for the COVID-19 pandemic. The fourth victory, played behind closed doors due to restrictions, was also the first time United had beaten City in three consecutive away games since the 2000/01 season.

3 Mauricio Pochettino

Four wins

We have to go all the way back to 2009 to begin this chapter. The Derbi Barceloni is a cross-city derby that doesn’t even get a second’s thought from most football fans, but it matters to those who play it.

Espanyol rarely beat Barcelona, but in 2009 that convention was upended. Ivan de la Pena came back to haunt the club who let him leave to join Espanyol and scored a brace for the Periquitos just before half time, and despite a Yaya Toure goal, the smaller of the two Catalan clubs held on for a famous victory.

Two of the finest victories in this list came in the 2018/19 Champions League quarter-final. A quiet first leg was followed by an absolutely crazy second leg that saw Manchester City nearly snatch victory from the jaws of death before they were cruelly denied the victory by VAR. It was a controversial win for Spurs as their winner, a Fernando Llorente goal, was thought by some to have been a handball but a VAR check concluded that it had come off the Spaniards hip.

2 Jose Mourinho

Seven wins

Jose Mourinho finally appears on this list. The enigmatic Portuguese manager has the second most victories against Guardiola and some of them are among ‘The Special One’s’ finest in his career.

Whether it be the incredible 3-2 comeback victory at the Etihad in 2018, Mourinho’s Inter counterattacking with force to win 3-1 in 2010, or the two 2–0 victories Mourinho achieved for Spurs in 2020, the rivalry between the two is one of the most interesting that football has seen for a long time.

Some might say the rivalry is surprising, given the two worked together closely at Barcelona when Guardiola was still plying his trade as a player and Mourinho was starting out his journey into management as assistant to Bobby Robson. But the heated nature of their time as two of the main men in Spain’s most famous rivalry almost definitely created an animosity between the two.

1 Jurgen Klopp

12 wins

One of football’s most interesting characters, Klopp was Guardiola’s opposite number in perhaps what is the pre-eminent managerial rivalry in the modern era of football. Klopp is also one of the very few managers to have a positive record against Guardiola, winning 12 games to Pep’s 11.

The rivalry stretches across two countries and four cities. The pair have battled it out for multiple Premier League and Bundesliga titles and their games are often filled with controversy and huge moments. The two have defined an era of both the Premier League and Bundesliga.

Klopp first beat Guardiola in the 2013 DFL Super Cup and they then traded blows over a couple of seasons managing against each other in the Bundesliga. Pep has the edge in the Premier League, but Liverpool’s 4-3 victory over City in the 2017/18 season and their 3-2 victories in the 2022 FA Cup semi-final and Community Shield later that year are memories that will live on in Liverpool fans’ minds forever.

All head-to-head stats used in this article taken from Transfermarkt