Barcelona dominated at home and abroad under Pep Guardiola but the Manchester City manager has no designs on making a Camp Nou return.
Guardiola masterminded a golden era with the Catalan club between 2008 and 2012, with three La Liga titles, two Champions Leagues and two Club World Cups among a host of honours collected across four seasons.
He still regularly declares himself to be a Barcelona fan but the association looks unlikely to ever extend beyond that again.
“I had the time of my life there. It was a fantastic age where I was taking on the world and we took it on, with some incredible players, a young president [Joan Laporta], Txiki [Begiristain, now City’s director of football].
A job upstairs is not one Guardiola envisages for himself either, as he is keen to indulge another of his passions when he leaves top-level coaching.
“President? No, I am a coach and I am good at what I do, you can’t be everything,” he said.
“When I stop coaching, you will find me playing golf.”
But Guardiola still feels his old employers – double winners once more in Spain under Ernesto Valverde – represent the gold standard.
