Real Madrid celebrated after the double victory over Barcelona. The celebration lasted until late at night. It was already early in the morning when the game ended.
Barcelona returned to Catalonia overnight. After resting until morning, the club's top management held a meeting that lasted for more than five hours.
The Catalan media, and even the entire Spanish media, sent teams to follow and report on Barcelona's situation. Their keen sense of smell, coupled with the previous signs, made these media realize that Barcelona was about to have a change in manager!
The old man was not gone, but the new man was in place. This happened once with the Spain national team manager, Aragones. Now it was about to happen with Barcelona's manager, Rijkaard.
Although the league tournament was not over yet, Barcelona had already confirmed that the Dutchman would no longer be the manager of Barcelona's first team from next season onwards!
The popular successor, Mourinho, who was previously widely rumored by the media, was rejected based on reliable internal information from Barcelona!
As for Barcelona's decision to change their manager, it was not unexpected news because Barcelona had begun to openly search for Rijkaard's successor as early as a few months ago. Especially after the team was eliminated by Manchester United, the decision makers' desire to change their manager was irreversible.
However, what made people a little confused was that this news actually appeared before the end of the season. In fact, it was easy to explain. The club's chairman, Laporta, wanted to use this news to divert the fans' dissatisfaction with this season's lack of success.
According to the latest news collected by the media before the meeting, Barcelona was hesitating painfully between the legendary defensive midfielder, Guardiola, and Getafe's manager, Laudrup!
Obviously, this meeting would be a major choice between the two!
Before the meeting ended, the media had already predicted that Barcelona would eventually choose Guardiola to be Rijkaard's successor.
When people thought of Guardiola, the first thing that came to mind was his identity as a member of the "Dream Team." It was this that made his image in the club extremely glorious.
On the contrary, Laudrup was the most famous traitor of Barcelona before Figo. The Dane's "evil" act of switching from Barcelona to Real Madrid in 1994 was still deeply engraved in the hearts of every Barcelona fan.
In the hearts of the Catalans, reputation and loyalty were so important that they were even more important than strength!
Guardiola's outstanding results in the Barcelona team over the past year were also an important asset for him.
Last season, Barcelona's second team was unfortunately relegated from Serie C, which made the club lose face. Guardiola took over the team after that.
After a season of hard work, this team, which should be the highest echelon team in the Catalan region, had finally entered the playoffs of the Fourth Division. As long as they broke through the playoffs, they would be able to return to the ranks of the Third Division.
Guardiola's work over the past season was very satisfactory to the club's senior management, especially when he led the team to play games against teams that did not even have a natural grass field. His civilian attitude of working hard without complaint was even more admirable.
In several internal small-scale discussions, the club's technical director, Begiristain, who supported Guardiola's promotion to the First Team, made it clear that since the club had tasted so many benefits from its own players, such as Messi and Bojan, why not try to "localize" the position of coach as well?
This was a reason that was quite convincing to Laporta. In the chairman's view, Barcelona had been in the clouds for too long. In the future, the club needed this kind of down-to-earth attitude to start from scratch.
Guardiola was an extremely outstanding figure during his time as a player, and his temperament was classified as ordinary. This was precisely what the club was currently lacking.
Of course, the choice of Guardiola was not without hesitation. His own lack of experience in leading a team in the top league was Laporta's biggest concern when he made this decision.
In fact, after the news that Guardiola was about to become the manager of Barcelona came out, the biggest reason that the fans opposed this decision through various channels was the "lack of experience".
Laporta was bound to take a certain risk by choosing Guardiola, but when he thought back to four years ago when he approached Rijkaard, how could people not think that the Dutchman was "not persuasive"?
At the end of the meeting, Guardiola was still working diligently at his post.
He looked calm and collected, but in fact, his heart was surging with emotions!
He had already received the news. In fact, if nothing unexpected happened, the promise he received would be fulfilled, and he would become the manager of one of the top powerhouses in European football!
For him, this was simply a step into the sky!
And he himself almost missed this opportunity. At this moment, he felt that he was lucky. At the same time, ambition took root and sprouted in his heart. He was a person with ideals and aspirations. As a student of Cruyff, he was instilled with the shade of the Barcelona Godfather. How high was his ambition? Outsiders did not know!
As the afternoon training was coming to an end, Guardiola received news from the club.
Barcelona was about to hold a press conference to announce that he, Guardiola, would take over Rijkaard's position at the end of the season!
After Guardiola heard this, he just looked at the beautiful sunset on the horizon. His seemingly indifferent eyes gradually became sharp and spirited!
Fate was really fickle!
Although he did not receive the corresponding respect when he left Barcelona, he transferred to Serie A before his career went downhill. The club's chairman at the time, Gaspata, did not make any move to persuade him to stay. Guardiola still did not hesitate to agree when the club called him. If Barcelona did not give him this opportunity, perhaps his first club's first team would have been Olympiacos.
While leading Barcelona's youth team, Guardiola had the opportunity to coach a Greek club.
At that time, Guardiola's former teammate at Barcelona, Rivaldo, wanted to invite him to be the manager of Olympiacos, a traditional strong team in Greece.
The Brazilian spent the last few years of his career at Olympiacos, where Rivaldo was the absolute core. After helping the team to win the Greek league title consecutively, Rivaldo had gained the absolute trust of the club's owner, the billionaire Kocaris.
Before the end of the 200607 season, Kocaris promised Rivaldo that after he hung up his boots, the position of the club's technical director would be the Brazilian, who could be fully responsible for the team's affairs.
When it came to the question of the manager, the first person that Rivaldo thought of was Guardiola.
When Rivaldo expressed this intention to Guardiola, the latter immediately agreed to his old friend.
Unexpectedly, Rivaldo later fell out with Kocaris on the issue of contract renewal. After completely falling out, the Brazilian joined AEK Athens of their arch-rival Olympiacos, while Guardiola continued to coach Barcelona's youth team and finally waited for the opportunity to be promoted.
What you lose at the swings, you gain at the roundabouts. Guardiola smiled gently when he thought of the past.
I am now the manager of Barcelona!
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