A historic night awaits Guardiola in the Champions League
Spanish coach Pep Guardiola is set to make his 100th Champions League appearance when he leads Manchester City against Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday in the fifth round of the competition. The 54-year-old Guardiola reached his 1,000th match in all competitions earlier this month. Since taking charge of Manchester City in 2016, he guided the team to their first Champions League title in 2013 after defeating Inter Milan, bringing his total to three European titles after winning them in 2009 and 2011 with Barcelona. During his time with City in the European competition, Guardiola achieved 62 wins, 19 draws, and 18 losses, while his team scored 234 goals and conceded 111. Aside from his matches with City, the manager has overseen 185 Champions League matches with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, winning 115 of them. This makes him the third most successful manager in terms of wins per game, behind Carlo Ancelotti (124 wins in 218 matches) and Alex Ferguson (102 wins in 190 matches). The 2022–23 season was the highlight of Guardiola's career, as he led Manchester City to their first European title as part of a historic quintuple that also included the Premier League, the FA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup, making City the eighth European club to achieve this feat. Guardiola also became the first manager to win this number of titles with two different clubs, following Barcelona's sextuple in 2009. City came close to winning the Champions League in the 2020–21 season before losing to Chelsea in the final, a season that proved to be Guardiola's most successful in terms of wins, with 11 victories in 13 matches (8 of which came in the title-winning season). Guardiola jokingly commented on reaching his 100th Champions League game with City, saying in a press conference: "I realize I'm getting older, and every week there's a new milestone to celebrate in my career." He added: "It's fantastic; it means we're in the competition every season. It's a great competition that players, managers, and everyone else love."
