A tumultuous week for Barcelona it seems.
First a loss to Real Madrid, then ouster from the Champions League at the hands of a struggling Chelsea and now the Manager/Coach departing. All certainly are major blows for the Catalans.
Photo courtesy: http://www.fcbarcelona.com/
A couple of questions that immediately pop in everyone's mind:
1. Who replaces him?
2. Where will he go from here?
The immediate answer to the first one is Tito Vilanova.
But can the assistant coach fill in the void left in by the head coach?
That only time can tell. (Di Matteo is only one example to prove that.)
Athletic Bilbao main man Bielsa was touted as a replacement for Pep for his tactical and attacking approach to the game, but for now, we will have to wait and see if Mr. Rosell needs to approach Bielsa any time soon!
To answer the second question is rather difficult. The coach himself says that he will walk away from football for sometime and perhaps return later. But his immense success at Barcelona means plenty of clubs await with open arms in each top country.
In Italy both the Milanese clubs have been struggling for quite some time now to find the perfect coach. It had been rumored earlier too that Inter were in private talks with Guardiola to hand him the hot seat and that Guardiola too had expressed interest in taking over the helm.
In England, Chelsea are performing surprisingly well under interim coach Di Matteo, but Abramovich will be on the alert to land in someone of the status and caliber of Joseph Gurdiola.
Besides Chelsea, even Manchester United will be keen to track the developments as Sir Alex Ferguson's age has been a worry for many a pundits.
In France, the newly rich PSG have installed Ancelotti, but if they fail to lift the League 1 title this season than Ancelotti's days will surely be numbered and the club owners would definitely try to turn all the stones in the way upside down to get Pep.
That said,
Another big question that cannot be answered is obviously the fate of Barcelona without Guardiola.
From the exterior it seems that he has left a good enough squad that can still compete for major trophies, but a little deeper analysis will show how the mix of an ageing squad (Xavi, Puyol, Villa, Iniesta, etc) and the lack of enough firepower besides Messi can pull down Barcelona from the heights it has scaled in recent years.
Pep had a chance to achieve at Barcelona what Sir Alex Ferguson did at United. Build and rebuild great squads. It surely couldn't have been better than Barcelona with its enviable and probably the best youth set up in Europe!
He must surely have better ideas for himself!
For now we can only say Good Luck to him and the Clubs, Barca for one and the all the ones awaiting to grasp the opportunity for the rest.
