In the second part of a new series on this season's Champions League managers, Abhishek Mehrotra looks at the youngest of them all.

Pep Guardiola was promoted to the post of Barcelona manager with a clear mandate - wrest back the Primera Liga crown from Real Madrid. If President Joan Laporta keeps a report card on the club's managers, one year on he would have written down "Spectacularly Exceeded Expectations" against Guardiola's name.

The 38 year old led the Catalans to the Primera Liga summit, won the Copa Del Ray and brought the Champions League home to the Camp Nou after his team simply waltzed past a highly rated Manchester United in the final. In the process Barcelona became the first Spanish team to do the treble and Guardiola became the youngest coach ever to win the Champions League.

Given that his team swept everything in sight last season, there hardly seems to be any scope for improvement in 2009/10. Yet, Guardiola will be well aware of the insane expectations coaches in the upper echelons of Spanish football have to deal with. Anything less than a repeat of last season will be seen as a disappointment. Domestically, Barca have begun where they left off last season, with a perfect score in the six matches they've played so far. Europe has been a slightly different story though.

Guardiola failed to put one over Jose Mourinho as his side settled for a goalless away draw against Inter Milan in the former's first Champions League outing of the season. Order was somewhat restored in the subsequent game against Dynamo Kiev as the Spanish giants ran rings around the Ukrainians. The 2-0 score-line was highly misleading.

La Masia's next European assignment, against Russian champions FK Rubin Kazan, at home should be easy enough. While there is a tricky home clash against Inter Milan as well as dicey trips to Ukraine and Russia to come, Barca should be sitting pretty at the top of the group at the end of round one. Come 2010, the manager will be poised once again to launch a bid for European glory.

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Guardiola began his playing career at Barcelona's youth academy at age 13 and played there for six years before being noticed by Dutch legend Johan Cruyff - the then coach of the Barcelona senior team. He made his debut amongst the big boys in 1990 and quickly established himself as the fulcrum of the team in midfield.  In 12 magnificent seasons for Barcelona, Guardiola won six Primera Liga titles, two Copa Del Rays and one Champions League.

He is also regarded as one of the best midfielders to have ever donned Spanish colours. He led the country to a world cup quarter final in 1994 as well as the last eight of Euro 2000.

His star dipped after he left Barcelona in 2001 to join Serie A team Brescia Calcio. Mediocre returns on the field were accompanied by controversy off it. Guardiola was banned for four months on charges of drug abuse - an accusation he fought for eight years before finally being cleared in September 2009.

A short but more successful stint in the Qatar Stars League followed before the midfield wizard called it a day in 2006.

Guardiola's playing career might have ended but the accolades continue to pour in. He was manager of the Barcelona B team only for a year in 2007/2008 before landing the one of the top footballing positions in Spain. The rest, as they say, is history. If he were to cut all ties with football today, he would retire with enough feathers in his cap to make for a very comfortable pillow. But much to the delight of Barcelona and football fans everywhere, the man is not one to rest on his laurels.