Pep Guardiola, football’s greatest coach, is in a bind
A serial winner is learning how to lose
PEP GUARDIOLA isn’t used to losing. Since becoming Manchester City’s manager in 2016, he has won 18 trophies, including six Premier League titles and the Champions League, Europe’s leading club competition. Previously he dominated German football as coach of Bayern Munich, and both the Spanish and European game at Barcelona. Yet Mr Guardiola is suddenly on the ropes. City had just lost five games in a row, the worst run of his tenure, when on November 26th they squandered a three-goal lead to draw against Feyenoord, a little-fancied Dutch side, in the Champions League. Should City lose against Liverpool on December 1st, they will fall 11 points behind the Premier League leaders. Even with two-thirds of the season to play, closing such a gap would be a remarkable sporting feat.
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