BARCELONA: Pep Guardiola, who quit as Barcelona coach on Friday, was rightly feted as the guiding light for a group of players widely regarded as among the best of their era.
But he first made his name two decades ago as a tenacious midfielder whose tough-tackling and astute reading of the game allowed him to become a key component of Barcelona's first golden generation.
Barca's then coach Johan Cruyff had assembled a team true to his purist principles and the likes of Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov and Ronald Koeman played with such style that they were christened 'the dream team'.
On 20 May 1992, their fantasy football reaped the ultimate reward when Koeman clinched their first European Cup by blasting a superb free-kick past Sampdoria goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca with just nine minutes remaining in extra-time at Wembley.
It was a cathartic moment for Barcelona as they emerged from the long shadow cast by Real Madrid, who often taunted the Catalans for their failure to emulate their bitter rivals' success in Europe's elite competition.
No-one took more joy from the triumph than Guardiola. A Barca fan from his childhood in Santpedo, just an hour's drive from the Catalan capital, he had been nurtured through the youth team and served as a ball boy before Cruyff spotted his potential.
Guardiola may not have been the headline act in that side but he learned the lessons of Cruyff's commitment to stylish success.
By the time Guardiola returned to the Nou Camp as youth coach, Cruyff was retired but he remained a keen Barca fan and could see his former player had become a guardian of the Dutch 'total football' ethos he brought to the club in the 1990s.
He recommended to president Joan Laporta that Guardiola be installed as Barca manager in 2008 and the appointment proved an inspired move.
Guardiola infused the team with a fluid passing and pressing game that tormented opponents and in his first year they won six titles including La Liga, the Copa del Rey (King's Cup) and beat Manchester United 2-0 in the Champions League final.
Another Champions League title followed in 2011 as well as two more La Liga crowns in 2010 and 2011. Aided by the development of Argentine forward Lionel Messi from gifted prodigy to the genius of his generation, Guardiola created Barca's second dream team.
“All the coaches I had in my career were important but Cruyff was the most important of all,” Guardiola said last year.
“He was without equal on training and tactics and he helped me to understand the million details that decide why some matches are lost and some matches are won.”But all good things come to an end.
Tuesday's shattering Champions League exit to Chelsea and Real Madrid's almost certain coronation as new Spanish champions left Guardiola heartbroken and Friday's annoucement that he was finished came as no surprise.
“Four years is an eternity as Barca coach,” the 41-year-old Guardiola told a news conference packed with journalists and players.
“That's four years, with time everything runs out of steam. I am drained and I need to take a step back and replenish.” Guardiola stood and embraced club president Sandro Rosell after making his statement from the podium, after which his assistant Tito Vilanova -- himself a former Barca youth player -- was named as his successor.
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