Barcelona took a huge gamble in hiring the 38-year-old Pep Guardiola last season to restore the club's fortunes after two years without any silverware under Franck Rijkaard.
But the club's former captain, a Catalan born-and-bred, has come up trumps in his debut season, surpassing all expectations as Barcelona won the Spanish league, Kings Cup and Champions League treble.
The stunning 2-0 win over Manchester United in Rome last Wednesday also means he has joined the illustrious club of men to win the Champions League as a player and manager, after taking what was then the European Cup in 1992 with Barca.
"We're very, very happy, we're delirious and I'd like to congratulate the whole club,” said Guardiola, who became the youngest ever Champions League winning coach.
"We're not the best team in history but we have played the best season in history. To win three titles, and how we did it."
FC Barcelona's coach Pep Guardiola signs autographs at a press conference on 29 May 2009 at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona
To motivate his players for the Champions League final in Rome, El Pais reported Guardiola showed them clips from the film "Gladiator" just minutes before the match.
The film, which won five Oscars in 2000, stars Russell Crowe as a Roman general, known as "the Spaniard", who is betrayed and enslaved but who rises through the ranks of the gladiatorial arena to avenge the murder of his family.
The video, put together especially for Guardiola by a journalist friend, also shows some of best moves by each of the players during the season.
It concludes with a message from Barcelona's sponsor that appears on the screen:
"We are the centre of the field, we have accuracy, we have effort, we are attackers who are defending, we are defenders who are attacking, we have speed, we have the respect of our adversaries, we are each goal that we score, we are the ones who are always looking for the opponent's goal. WE ARE ONE."
No top-flight managerial experience
Many felt Guardiola was a risk as he had no top-flight managerial experience but people inside Camp Nou raved about his work with the youth team and he was handed the high-profile, top job last summer.
He already had a huge reputation at Barcelona after captaining Johan Cruyff's "dream team".
A product of the club's youth programme, he played for Barcelona from 1990 to 2001. He also won 47 caps for his country.
He retired as a player in 2006 after six months with Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa.
As manager at Barca, Guardiola made a smart move early on in getting rid of the underperforming Ronaldinho and Deco, who joined AC Milan and Chelsea respectively.
FC Barcelona's coach Pep Guardiola gives a press conference on 29 May 2009 at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona
He then bought well with Dani Alves and Seydou Keita arriving from Sevilla for a combined EUR 44 million and Gerard Pique captured from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee.
Off to a rough start
However, it was a difficult start in La Liga for Guardiola who collected just one point from the first six - the club's worst start since 1974.
He refused to panic and results came, wrapped up in a thrilling brand of "total" football in the style of Cruyff.
"Winning is always the target but an attractive, attacking game pleases the public," said Guardiola.
With the trio of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta wreaking havoc, Barca tore teams to shreds and the work-rate and will-to-win was in stark contrast to the lacklustre displays under Rijkaard for the previous two seasons.
Barcelona often employed the tactic of killing teams off in the first half by setting a frenetic pace and Atletico Madrid, one of the best sides in the league, found that out early in the season when they were 4-1 down after just 17 minutes, eventually losing 6-1.
At the halfway stage of 19 games, Barcelona had set a new record of 50 points beating arch-rival Real Madrid's record of 47 points set last season.
They also scored a double over Real in the season's 'Clasicos'.
In the Champions League, Barca thrashed Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate in quarter-final.
The Barca coach, who had been cool for most of the season, showed his fiery side for complaining after Lionel Messi was booked for diving in the last 16 first leg match at the Nou Camp.
Barcelona supporters celebrate after their team won the Champions League final football match betwen Barcelona and Manchester United
He then watched his side edge past Chelsea in the semi-finals with Andres Iniesta's dramatic stoppage time goal in London.
In Rome on Wednesday night, a magnificent attacking display, with goals from Messi and Samuel Eto'o, gave the Catalans a deserved victory over holders Manchester United, and crowned a spectacular maiden season for Guardiola.
Now he's hoping to build on that success.
"Give me a few days to rest and then I'll tell you how I'm going to tackle next year. I just want to play well and be back here again (in the final)," he said.
4 June 2009
AFP / Expatica
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How the Catalan born-and-bred coach led his team to the historic treble triumph.
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