‘The numbers are insane’: Guardiola reaches 1,000 games in a coaching career that’s changed soccer

It all started on Sept. 2, 2007, in a Spanish fourth-tier game against Premia in front of around 2,000 fans.

Eighteen years later, Pep Guardiola will reach 1,000 games as a coach when he leads Manchester City into one of the biggest games in world soccer — against Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.

“I never thought for one second about reaching 1,000 games,” the 54-year-old Guardiola said. “You just want to do a good job, play football the right way and see what happens.”

From his first job with Barcelona ‘B’ to trophy-laden stints with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, Guardiola has changed the face of soccer in his remarkable coaching career.

He thanked all the great players — they include Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne — that have helped him along the way.

“After that,” Guardiola added Friday, ”it’s a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, passion, love. In that, nobody beats me.”

Here’s a by-the-numbers look at Guardiola as a coach — and even he is shocked by the statistics.

“The numbers are insane, I’m sorry to tell you,” Guardiola said with a smile. “When you have this milestone and you read what you have done … if I start again, I will not reach it.”

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715

Number of wins from Guardiola’s 999 games so far. It’s a win-rate of 71.57%.

40

Number of trophies won by Guardiola in his coaching career, averaging one every 25 matches.

10

Number of seasons at Man City, making it by far his longest tenure as a coach.

9

Most goals scored by Guardiola’s teams in a single match. It has happened twice — firstly Barcelona in a 9-0 thrashing of L’Hospitalet in the Copa del Rey in December 2011 and then Man City in a 9-0 beating of Burton Albion in the English League Cup in January 2019.

3

Number of Champions League titles won by Guardiola (2009 and 2011 with Barcelona, 2023 with Man City ). Only one coach, Carlo Ancelotti (five), has more.

1

Number of seasons taken off by Guardiola since 2007 — a sabbatical in 2012-13 during which he spent time in New York.

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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer