Pep Guardiola’s invincibility cloak is starting to look worse for wear after being taught a lesson at Barcelona, writes WADE PRETORIUS.

It didn’t take long for Manchester City to prove that they are not in fact a team from another universe, unbeatable and capable of destroying everyone and everything in their path.

Such was the hype around the Citizens following Pep Guardiola’s arrival and immediate, albeit short-term, success. Wednesday’s return to Barcelona was something of a watershed moment for the Spanish manager, his team and observers of the Premier League.

Is Pep’s mystique starting to fade? A burgled draw against Celtic, out-thought and outplayed by Mauricio Pochettino and his Spurs side and most recently, failure to make their chances count in the draw against Everton. These were the prelude to City arriving at the Nou Camp for their litmus test of just how far they’ve come under Guardiola.

How far then have they come? The 4-0 scoreline suggests they are no closer to becoming Champions League contenders than they were under Manuel Pellegrini. And Guardiola himself now has a mountain to climb if he is indeed going to become the man to complete the project at Manchester City. In order to do so, he must find a way to break down the Goliath that he himself helped build.

Guardiola is a product of Barcelona. His career is intricately woven in the Spanish club’s DNA. He has been praised for implementing their style but the opposite side of the coin rings equally true. Where would Guardiola be if he didn’t have Lionel Messi – arguably the greatest player of his time – to lead his team time and time again?

It’s easy to play beautiful, fast-paced, slick football when you have the artist Messi sprawling his creativity over every canvass. Regardless of those who argue otherwise, I maintain that winning the Bundesliga is not a comparable achievement to winning the league in Italy, England or Spain. Guardiola’s true test of managing Bayern was winning the Champions League and he failed. Failed despite having one of the most powerful, most balanced, most capable of matching Barcelona and Real Madrid squads in the world.

Now in the midst of a mini slump at City, he will know that he needs to adapt his game plan to each and every opponent. He does not have Messi to rely on. He does not have a home match against Freiburg to regather some momentum.

Guardiola remains one of the world’s best managers. There is no doubt about it. However, he now finds himself at the deep end for the first time in his career and that’s after a little more than 10 games in charge of Manchester City, the side that have the deepest, most talent-filled squad in the top flight of England.

As Celtic, Spurs, Everton and Barcelona prove, Guardiola’s City are beatable.

Is Guardiola the superior, almost unhuman football brain that many made him out to be? He has seven months to prove it …