When Pep Guardiola took charge at Manchester City in 2016, one of the Catalan manager’s tasks was to help the club win the Champions League.
The 48-year-old is in his third season at the Etihad and so far, he’s failed to take his side past the quarter-final of the Europe’s elite club competition, having spent over €600m on bringing new faces to the club.
On Wednesday, the Premier League winners were knocked out of the Champions League by Tottenham Hotspur.
AS now claims ‘it is difficult to justify that in three years your [Guardiola’s] team has not passed the quarter-final of the top European competition’, especially with AS feeling City’s owners back the club hugely in the transfer market.
The Spanish newspaper compare Guardiola with Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax boss Erik ten Hag. The latter two will see their side face each other in the Champions League semi-final.
Before the start of the season, the Spurs manager and Ten Hag didn’t have the obligation of making it to the last four of the competition. 
AS points out both Pochettino and Ten Hag play attacking football and they have achieved this whilst not investing heavily in signings.
They go on to say that Pochettino and Ten Hag have been a ‘resounding success’, while Guardiola, who spend big on getting his targets, is a ‘failure’ after City’s Champions League exit.
This isn’t the only dig being sent to Pep in Spain, and it can often feel a lot of it falls down the Barcelona/Real Madrid divide.
Marca call it ‘another nightmare’ for Guardiola. It’s not so cutting, there’s probably going to be more from them in the coming days.
El Chiringuito also had a pop this morning.
Meow, El Chiringuito.
“Congratulations, POCHETTINO. Without being the INVENTOR of FOOTBALL you have managed to QUALIFY.”https://t.co/SDOgcb7jY2
— Sport Witness (@Sport_Witness) April 18, 2019
