234SPORTS: GUARDIOLA QUITS BARCA

Pep Guardiola will stand down as Barcelona manager at the end of the season after deciding not to renew his rolling one-year contract.

The 41-year-old, who was appointed in 2008 and has led the Catalan club to 13 trophies, will be succeeded by current assistant Tito Vilanova.

Barca look set to miss out to Real Madrid in La Liga and were knocked out of the Champions League by Chelsea.

"The reason is simple: four years is enough," said Guardiola.

"I'm drained and I need to fill up. The demand has been very high and a manager must be strong."


It is understood the former Spain international will take a year away from football after relinquishing his duties to Vilanova.

"At the beginning of December I announced to the chairman that I was seeing the end of my era at Barcelona," Guardiola continued.

"Time has taken its toll - I rise each day and don't feel the same. I am going with the understanding that I have done my duty.

"You can only recover by resting and getting away from everything. It would have been a bad idea to continue. Perhaps it would not have gone wrong but I have the perception that it would. It is my time to go.

"Now we are out of the two main competitions it is a good time to announce this. I did not want to continue with the confusion.

"I want to thank my players who are responsible for everything that has happened here. I don't want to manage at the moment."

Guardiola was speaking at a news conference attended by many of his players and received rapturous applause at the end.


The likes of captain Carles Puyol, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas looked emotional as their coach announced his departure.


But Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said: "We've always said that if the team needs players, we look at home first. What do we have here at home? Tito.

"We chose Tito because he represents the idea and the image. He has commitment and personality."

Francesc 'Tito' Vilanova was a friend of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona's La Masia academy
After progressing to Barcelona B, the midfielder left the club, spending three years with Celta Vigo
Following retirement in 2002, the Spaniard joined lower league Barcelona-based side Terrassa FC as technical director
The 42-year-old was brought back to coach Barca B when Guardiola took control of the side in 2007
He moved up to the role of Guardiola's assistant coach at Barcelona when Pep moved up to the top job in 2008
  Guardiola endorsed the move. He said: "I think the club has taken the best decision possible. He is more than capable. The players know him. He will make few changes. He will give the club and these players something that I thought I could no longer give. I could have continued but is not what Barca would have deserved."
Guardiola is the most successful coach in Barca history, with three league titles, two Champions Leagues and a Copa del Rey among his haul.

He has overseen the rise of three-time world player of the year Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta, while signing Fabregas from Arsenal.

Guardiola was particularly close to Messi - describing him as "the best ever" player - while the Argentina forward suggested Guardiola was the main factor behind Barca's recent success.

Messi was one of the players who opted to stay away from Guardiola's news conference.

Instead he posted a message on his Facebook page and stated he felt too much emotion to face the media glare.

"Because of the emotions I feel I preferred not to be present at Pep's press conference and to stay away from the press because I know they will look for the pain on the players' faces," said Messi.

"I'm very sorry for all of the uncertainty I created over this time over my future, maybe that was an error of mine," Guardiola said. "I didn't mean to create this kind of mood."

He paid a sincere tribute to the players he was "privileged" to coach who made the "dream" possible. Now he needed time to recover. Time had taken its toll on him and he didn't feel the same as he did four years ago. "I am proud I have done my duty," he said, and left to the applause of his audience which included many members of his squad.

The club's president, Sandro Rossell, opened the meeting by confirming Guardiola's decision and saying to him: "Thank you for your work and your love."

Guardiola's friend, the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, said he was surprised by the Barça coach's decision: "It comes as a surprise to me because first of all when you make a decision after a big disappointment like he has had in the past week, it may not be the right moment to make this decision. The philosophy of Barcelona has to be bigger than winning or losing a championship. Guardiola is one of the representatives of this philosophy and made this philosophy triumph so I would have loved him, even going through a disappointing year, to stay and come back and insist with his philosophy. That would be interesting."

On the pressure Guardiola faced, Wenger was sympathetic. "Believe me, if somebody can understand that it's me," he said. "I can understand there are not many managers who work throughout a career without a breather. Maybe he has not shown the stress. Maybe it's taken more than he has shown. You never know from the outside how deeply a man suffers from the inside. I have heard he has come out and wants to have a break to reflect on the situation, which you can understand after a certain time. I decided the other way to never come out of a job, because it becomes second nature to cope with it. It becomes your life. Some people need to move out at some stage."