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He was made popular by Jose Morinho eye poking
incident in the Copa del Rey 2011 final after the initial controversy generated
by the incident. He has since forgiven the special one, and weather he has forgotten
that is a debate for another day.
Francesc "Tito" Vilanova i Bayó was born on 17th September 1969, he was a retired Spanish footballer `who
played as a centre mid fielder.
He managed to play only 26 La liga games in three
years combined , One
of the highlight of his short playing career was during his time at Lleida, in
a 1998 Copa Catalunya game against Barcelona, coached by José Mourinho who
swapped responsibilities with head coach Louis van Gaal during the tournament,
Vilanova scored a goal, becoming the first player to net against a team
directed by the Portuguese.
His
managerial career stated when he was appointed as the technical director at Terrassa
FC, before he was appointed as assistant manager at FC Barcelona B, under Pep
Guardiola with the club in the fourth division. In 2008, after leading the
reserve side to promotion to level three, the pair was assigned to the first
team, replacing Dutch Frank Rijkaard and Johan Neeskens.
Villanova’s
first season at the Camp Nou was the most successful in Barcelona's history,
with the club winning six major trophies, becoming the first team in Spain to
win the domestic cup, league and European club titles the treble in the same
season and the duo later succeeded in to 14 major titles.
No doubt the unprecedented success story of his predecessors
will definitely put him under pressure to continue the winning streak
especially the domination of their domestic rival in Real Madrid and the other
external rivals at the UEFA champion’s league, only time will tell whether this
rookie coach can match the high standard expected at the Nou camp?
Can he come up with a winning formula that can
sustain the team week in-week out and also can he keep the team fit throughout
the season to compete for trophies at all front?
Another question that will come up to the mind of
the follower of the game is how many trophies will he win at the end of the
season? Perhaps he has started answering these questions at the pre season
games by winning all the matches so far including the Trophy de Paris where PSG
was defeated 4-1 on penalty shootout after playing 2-2 at full time.
The shoe vacated by Guardiola is quite big but will
the shoe not be an oversize for the new kid on the block?
Your reactions are welcome.
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