Would it have mattered to posterity if Pep Guardiola had not won the Champions League again? Would it have mattered if he had remained stuck on two European titles, his last triumph Barcelona’s sumptuous 3-1 victory over Manchester United at Wembley in 2011?
We can tell ourselves that we know what Guardiola is, how he had transformed football and our understanding of what is possible; that we know the magnitude of Arrigo Sacchi, who won two European Cups, and Rinus Michels, who won one, and Valeriy Lobanovskyi, who didn’t win any; but, still, it feels appropriate to have it confirmed, just as it was fitting to have Lionel Messi’s greatness confirmed at the World Cup.
