Barca

Members of the Barcelona’s team throw Pep Guardiola, their victorious coach, into the air after their dramatic extra-time victory over Estudiantes in their Fifa Club World Cup final at Zayed Sports City on Saturday night. Fahad Shadeed / Reuters

ABU DHABI // Pep Guardiola is still very much a novice in the art of football management.

Having graduated from coaching Barcelona’s B team to take custody of the Camp Nou aristocrats in the summer of 2008, the former Spanish international midfield player can today stake a claim to be the all-time greatest “rookie of the year”.

Clutching a sixth trophy captured in the last 12 months, Guardiola, still only 38, cried openly as he tried to take in the magnitude of a splendid achievement which was crowned late on Saturday night by the snatching of the Club World Cup from a most unfortunate Estudiantes team who had led for much of a dramatic final.

Saturday had turned into Sunday by the time Guardiola had completed his expert analysis of how his cosmopolitan mix of exciting and valuable players team have conquered the world. The enthralled crowd of multi- nationalities who had crammed into the impressive Zayed Sports City stadium had long since filtered off into the night air, privileged to have witnessed an episode in sporting history that is unlikely to be repeated.

A Guardiola-inspired glittering end to last season, which brought the Spanish League and Champions League double to go with two domestic cup triumphs, has now been embellished by the addition of the European Super Cup and now the Club World Cup

No wonder the coach was in tears.

“These things happen,” he said, offering the briefest explanation of how emotion took over in his moment of triumph.

Glad to be physically unscathed by his ecstatic squad’s celebration of throwing him into the air several times and just managing to catch him as he plunged to the Abu Dhabi soil, Guardiola is acutely aware that the only way is down from now on.

“We have achieved something that nobody has achieved before, he said. “And it is an achievement that nobody else might experience. To win six titles is unthinkable and everybody associated with Barca should be extremely happy.

“I’m lucky that I have such quality players in my squad.

“The success that we’ve had has been down to them and I’d like to thank them all for that, including those who were with us last season because they also form part of this.

“Now we are going to have to be prepared to descend from our stardom but with the talent that got us here we are going to be all right.”

It was hugely appropriate that the player who has done most to separate Barcelona from the best of the rest over the last two seasons should score the decisive goal which completed his club’s remarkable clean sweep.

Lionel Messi, who scored the clinching Champions League final goal against the holders Manchester United to earn Barcelona their ticket to the capital, was again instrumental in their success.

A timely goal seconds after coming off the substitutes’ bench in a tricky semi-final against Atlante was followed by an extra-time final winner against his devast-ated Argentine compatriots.

“We have not yet realised what we have done. It will be difficult for another team to repeat this,” said the pocket dynamo, who used his chest – Guardiola referred to the ball going in off the “heart” – to divert a right-wing cross into the net when most spectators were waiting for a plunging header.

Messi’s attacking foil this season has been Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a big summer signing from Inter Milan and the big Swedish striker was understandably elated about the swift rewards that have come his way.

“One of the reasons I came to Barca was to win titles,” he said.

“I hope we continue to win many more trophies. We have made history in every way you look at it and I’m so happy for the boss, for myself and for the whole team.”

The defender Gerard Pique has urged his teammates not to let their standards slip in the wake of their record-breaking 2009.

“It’s clear that we’re the team who have had the best year in history, but if we are great, we have to continue winning,” said the Spanish international signed from United.

“But now we can afford to simply enjoy this over the holidays, we have won a grand slam this year. After that, we just have to carry on.”

wjohnson@thenational.ae