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Guardiola era at Barcelona comes to a close at Copa del Rey final

Guardiola (Reuters Pictures)

Pep Guardiola has one match remaining before a new era at Barcelona begins, and it provides a chance for him to go out in an appropriate manner.

Friday's Copa del Rey final (4 p.m., ESPN3.com/ESPN Deportes) marks the end of Guardiola's four years coaching the Spanish giant, where he enjoyed unparalleled success in bringing three league championships and two UEFA Champions League titles to Camp Nou. Guardiola, a La Masia academy product, former Barcelona midfielder and former reserve team coach, took over in 2008, and the first trophy he won was the Copa del Rey at the expense of Athletic Bilbao — his final opponent as Barcelona manager.

With a victory over Marcelo Bielsa's Bilbao at Estadio Vicente Calderon in Madrid, Guardiola would add his 14th piece of silverware to Barcelona's trophy case to put an exclamation point on one of the greatest runs in the history of club soccer.

How will you look back on the Guardiola era at Barcelona? Do you think the club will take any steps back with Tito Vilanova taking over?

Share your thoughts (and any comments, opinions and play-by-play from today's match) below.

Comments

  1. I think Mascherano has improved at Barcelona while Cesc has not. I think Cesc’s start on the bench shows what Pep thinks of his performance this year.

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  2. One team passing the ball endlessly 25 yards from goal, the other sitting 10 men inside 20 yards waiting to counter. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz.

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  3. Except the only way to beat them is to park the bus for 90 minutes and try to counter. I would rather watch tiki-taka any day.

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  4. Feel sorry for Bilbao. They tried to play attractive football, and Barca just ate them up. Down by 3 at the 30th minute. Now they just look desperate. Not even halftime yet.

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  5. Pep is a class act.

    I’d love to see him take over a mid-level club and be given the finances/freedom to build something of his own (rather than going to a giant like Chelsea).

    I won’t even address rumors of him going to Liverpool as I did state he’s a class act.

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