Published 4/27/2012 1:21:05 PM by Roberto Garcia from soccermogul

Talk about a bad week for Barcelona.  First came a shock road loss at Chelsea in the opening leg of the Champions League semifinals.  Then on the weekend a home defeat to rivals Real Madrid that confirmed Barcelona will not win the La Liga title this year.  Then a 2-2 draw against Chelsea in Spain that knocked Barca out of the Champions League.  

Finally, the biggest news of all.  Their beloved coach, Pep Guardiola is stepping down.

In front of some of the players he molded into one of soccer's greatest teams, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola said Friday he will leave at the end of the season and bring to a close a four-year reign of unprecedented success.

Guardiola said during a news conference at Camp Nou that the demands of the job were too great and his energy levels too low to continue. He will be replaced by his assistant, Tito Vilanova.

"Every day during four years, the demands are very high, the pressure, the necessary energy to push the players and enjoy it," said the 41 yr old Guardiola, a former Barcelona midfielder. "I need to rest and move away."

Guardiola said he made his decision in December but preferred to wait until the team's chase for the major trophies was out of the way. He had extended his rolling one year contract by February in each of the past two seasons, but his decision not to do so this time led to ongoing speculation.

Guardiola's run at Barcelona has been marked with succes.  Under his direction Barcelona doubled its number of Champions League trophies with wins in 2009 and 2011, claimed three straight Spanish league titles, won two Club World Cups, two European Super Cups, three Spanish Super Cups and one Copa del Rey. His record is 175-21-46, with a 618-178 goal difference.

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