Who are Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola’s coaches? The men behind title success, including Mikel Arteta
Pep Guardiola will take much of the credit for Manchester City's fifth league title, as will the players and rightly so. They have been streets ahead of everyone else.
Here, though, talkSPORT.com looks at the chaps working tirelessly with manager Guardiola on the training ground so the players get it right on the pitch.
Domenec Torrent: Assistant coach
Torrent is possibly Guardiola’s most trusted member of staff, having worked alongside the City manager at his previous managerial roles at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Torrent, one of four assistant coaches, usually sits next to Guardiola on the bench.
Carles Planchart: Performance analysis coach
Renowned for his attention to detail, Barcelona-native Planchart (below, right) has been by Guardiola’s side since he began his coaching career at Barcelona B in 2007. His role involves analysing collective and individual tactical aspects to help make improvements to individual players and the team.
Lorenzo Buenaventura: Fitness coach
Buenaventura joined Guardiola at Barcelona in 2008 and followed him to Bayern Munich. He plays an important role in helping City play with the intensity that is a hallmark of a Guardiola team. He has a reputation for speeding up the process for injured players’ recovery.
Manel Estiarte: Head of player support and protocol
Manel is an Olympic gold medallist, who represented Spain 578 times at water polo and became the first player within his sport to represent his country at six Olympic Games. Having worked with Guardiola at Bayern Munich, Estiarte is a trusted friend of Guardiola and has a wealth of sporting knowledge the manager likes to tap into.
Rodolfo Borrell: Assistant coach
Borrell was Lionel Messi’s first coach at Barcelona and he also played a role in the development of the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta. He first moved to England when appointed technical director at Liverpool’s academy under Rafa Benitez. He joined City’s academy in 2014 before joining Guardiola’s staff in 2016.
Xabi Mancisidor: Head of goalkeeping
Mancisidor, a former goalkeeper for Spanish side Mallorca, joined City (below, left) as goalkeeping coach under Manuel Pellegrini, who he worked with at Malaga. Guardiola made him head of goalkeeping upon his arrival in 2016.
Mikel Arteta: Assistant coach
The former Everton and Arsenal midfielder linked up with Guardiola in 2016 when he decided to hang up his boots. He was the first member of Guardiola’s coaching team to be officially confirmed and is one of his key assistants. So well respected is Arteta that he has even been linked with becoming a manager in his own right one day and has been mentioned as a future Arsenal boss. He is certainly learning from one of the best.
Brian Kidd: Assistant coach
A former Manchester United and Manchester City player, Kidd was assistant manager to Alex Ferguson at United and later joined City in 2009. He dabbled in management and oversaw Blackburn’s relegation from the Premier League in 1999, but as a coach has worked under title winners Roberto Mancini, Pellegrini and now Guardiola in his role as an assistant.
