From Reuters News Service:
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has agreed to extend his contract with the Spanish champions to the end of next season, the club said in a statement.
Guardiola's current deal was due to expire at the end of this season. Barça are seven points clear at the top of La Liga after 22 games.
Guardiola was appointed coach at the Camp Nou in 2008, after a successful season of coaching the Barcelona B team. In his first campaign Barcelona achieved the remarkable treble of winning the Primera División, Copa del Rey and Champions League, and they finished 2009 with six trophies in all.
Last year saw them successfully defend their domestic league title, and they are cruising at the top of the table again this season, seven points clear of second-placed Real Madrid who appointed José Mourinho as manager in the summer in the hope of overhauling the Catalan side.
Guardiola saw his team thump Real 5-0 in November to assert their supremacy, and they have also made serene progress in Europe this season, setting up the upcoming last-16 meeting with Arsenal in the Champions League.
“LIKE A JEDI KNIGHT— no, better than that— A TEMPLAR KNIGHT. This is a FLASH OF PURE INSPIRATION, and let me tip my hat to the genesis of this goal: Ibarra. Lionel only absolutely LIGHTS IT UP here, he LIFTS OFF IT, FLAMETHROWERS IT PAST poor Reny Vega. It’s just as well Reny didn’t get a hand to that because it would have TAKEN IT OFF HIS WRIST. Superlative football and an out of this world BERNINI SCULPTURE of a finish." GOL TV Commentator Ray Hudson
