Pep Guardiola's woes in European semifinals

Pep Guardiola is considered to be one of the most coveted coaches in the history of football. He had successful stints with Barcelona and Bayern Munich in the Spanish and German leagues respectively. Since joining Manchester City, he has transformed the club into one of the top attacking teams in the world.

The Manchester club has won the 2017-18 Premier League and is playing some beautiful football in the current season as well. However, his teams haven't had a fruitful run in the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Here are some instances where his clubs have faced a humbling exit in the semifinals.

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#1 Barcelona vs Chelsea (2-3), 2011-12

Torres put the final nail in the coffin

After winning the title in 2010-11 season, Barcelona were firm favorites to reach into the final when they drew Chelsea in the semi-final. In the home leg, Chelsea shocked the current champions with a 1-0 win, thanks to a goal by Didier Drogba.

In the second leg, Barca started the game brightly with a goal by Sergio Busquets in the 35th minute. For a rash tackle, John Terry was sent off in the 37th minute, putting Chelsea in deep trouble. Iniesta changed the scoreline to 2-0 in the first half but the second half changed the complexion of the game. Ramires and Fernando Torres netted the goals and knocked Barca out of the competition.

Strangely, Chelsea scored all their three goals in time added on, while Barcelona had a massive 72% possession in both legs.

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#2 Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid (0-5), 2013-14

A humiliating loss for Bayern against Real

It was termed as an even clash, with both teams playing an attractive brand of football. After a 1-0 defeat at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Bayern Munich suffered an embarrassing loss at home with 4-0.

After crashing out of the tournament, a dejected Pep was quoted saying, "Of course we are disappointed and sad to have lost that game. We have lost, we lost clearly and by a large margin. What we did against Arsenal and Manchester [United] did not work today. Also, in the first leg in Madrid, we had more control than today and at least a couple of chances. Today, just a few. That's why we have lost the semifinal. You play with the ball and if you don't have it that doesn't work."

#3 Bayern Munich vs Barcelona (3-5), 2014-15

Barcelona stormed into the finals of 2014-15 champions league

Pep faced his old club in the semifinal of the 2014-15 season and Lionel Messi inspired Barca to a 3-0 victory at the Camp Nou. It was a tough ask to overturn this deficit in the next fixture. Bayern Munich won the second leg with 3-2, but it wasn't enough for them to progress.

Pep adopted a patient approach against the Spanish club, which turned out to be the wrong strategy. He gave a lot of credit to the Barca coach Luis Enrique and heaped praise on the strong defense and nimbleness of the opponent.

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#4 Bayern Munich vs Atletico Madrid (2-2), 2015-16

The happiness of beating the German giants in the semis

Atletico Madrid drew first blood with a 1-0 victory on home soil, at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium. Bayern won the match in their home leg with 2-1 but the away goal scored by the Spanish club took them into the finals. It was another heartbreaking moment for Bayern fans who were expecting the elusive Champions League glory under Pep.

After the loss, Pep quoted, "Of course I wanted to win the Champions League with Bayern and I tried my best to do that - I've given my life for this team. I'm proud of us. We played very well in the second half in Madrid, and in the match here tonight. We played very well against Juventus, against Benfica and against Atletico -- with all that I can sleep quite well."