On 19th December 2012, Barcelona announced that Tito Vilanova was suffering from Parotid gland cancer . The cancer was treated but has relapsed. He was diagnosed earlier a year earlier on 22nd November 2011. The man has fought it once and the entire football fraternity is with him.
He has come a long way from being Pep Guardiola’s assistant. One can say that as current things stand , he is already out of the shadows of the previous Barcelona boss who enjoyed unparalleled success in his 4 years at the Catalan based club.
Vilanova started his coaching career in 2003–04 with Tercera División outfit FC Palafrugell and suffering relegation to Primera Catalana. Then he was appointed assistant manager at FC Barcelona B, under manager Pep Guardiola, with the club in the fourth level. This is were the duo got together and a formidable partnership began.
In the 2008 summer, after leading the reserve side to promotion to Segunda División B, the pair were assigned to the first team, replacing Frank Rijkaard . His 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. An assistant is very important to a manager and no wonder he was immense to the Blaugrana winnings the sextuple under Pep Guardiola.
On 27 April 2012, at the press conference in which Barcelona confirmed Guardiola’s departure, it was also announced that Vilanova would be his successor. On 15 June, he signed a two-year contract.
Barcelona have played in a similar way to what was being played under Pep. Well why change the winning formula. In his first season, he has done extremely well and Messi has gone from strength to strength. Some may say making it easier for Tito to work. He has the best side in the world at his disposal. They have been playing together since a long time and grown together. The new signings too may not get all the playing time they desire like Cesc Fabregas and Alex Song but they are happy under him. He has managed to keep the ego side of the team out of it. That was his first and foremost obstacle. The players were accustomed to him being around so the change wasn’t so drastic as first feared by the fans and media. He has played players like Adriano out of position and still got the best out of him. Javier Mascherano has been playing at centre back for Barcelona with Pique and Puyol being regularly injured and he has been decent to say the least. Tito sure knows how to keep everyone happy.
This season he has done well this season with Barcelona not having lost yet almost showing a perfect record except for that draw against Real Madrid. Barcelona currently lie top of the La Liga summit with 49 points ahead of Athletico Madrid at 40 and Real Madrid at 33. Clearly it is a long season but I wouldn’t bet against Barcelona at the moment. Barcelona have conceded more than they would’ve liked but have compensated at the other end. It can be seen that the team is coming together under Vilanova and clearly going strong this season.
Top of the league, one of the favourites for the Champions League title, their talisman Messi being called an “Alien”. I don’t think anyone wouldn’t want to be in that Barcelona side enjoying what Guardiola built and left and what Vilanova picked up and has carried on brilliantly as of now. It is easy for anyone to say that he has such an amazing team with him that doing his job would be easy but controlling such a team is a challenge. Maintaining the challenge is a task and Vilanova has done that.
The entire footballing community hopes for his quick recovery and his surgery went well. If reports are to be believed , he may be back mid-January. We wait for you Tito.
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