Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, asserted that many would prefer the English team, Man City to fail “more than ever.” Last weekend, the Premier League champions won the Club World Cup, raising their fifth trophy of 2023. In addition to winning the FA Cup, European Super Cup, Champions League, and Premier League, City also won the FA Cup against Fluminense, 4-0. In the history of English football, no club has accomplished that. However, in 2009, while managing Barcelona, Guardiola brought home six trophies as the team won the Champions League, La Liga, Copa del Rey, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, and Club World Cup.
Pep Guardiola, Manager of Man city “As much as you win, they want you to fail. More than ever. I felt then when we won the sextuple in Barcelona. “It’s normal. They don’t want (us to win). In these 14-15 years what we have won, the titles, is unbelievable. “People say ‘how good they play, how genius it is’. But they give credit just because we win. They don’t have to look further than that,” he said.
Gabriel Jesus celebrating a goal. Source: Reuters Jesus was regarded by many as the heir to legendary striker Sergio Aguero at Man City, but the Brazilian called time on his spell with the Citizens in search of regular first-team football and joined Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal for around £45m last summer. Before departing the Etihad, Jesus was the only recognized striker at Man City, but he preferred to operate out wide under Guardiola, leaving the Catalan boss without a natural focal point before the arrival of Erling Haaland. Speaking to the “Denilson Show” podcast, Gabriel Jesus said the turning point in his City career came during their home game against Paris Saint-Germain in November 2021 when he was named on the bench by Pep Guardiola. Jesus replaced Zinchenko in the second half and set up the equaliser before scoring a late winner to give City a 2-1 win. He said; “There was a Champions League game, PSG, at home, in which he put [Oleksandr] Zinchenko as a false 9. Crazy thing. The day before, he didn’t even use [Zinchenko] in training, he had put me in as a striker. … Zinchenko even joked with me: ‘that day I felt bad for you.’ 
Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has said that comparisons with his former teammate and coach Pep Guardiola are not helpful for his managerial career. Despite delivering Barcelona’s first La Liga title since 2019, Xavi has faced criticism for his pragmatic style of play, which has led to several narrow victories and a strong defensive record. 
Guardiola and Xavi having a handshake at a match. Source: Getty As a former player under Guardiola, who led Barcelona to unprecedented success with his “tiki-taka” philosophy, Xavi feels burdened by the expectations to replicate his style. Speaking to TV3, he said; “The figure of Guardiola is weighing me down as a coach. I don’t think it’s fair to constantly make the comparison. It happened to me when I was a player as well. Everyone has to turn the page.” While Xavi said he does not feel there has been universal support for what he has achieved at the club, he does feel valued internally, with a new contract until 2026 expected to be agreed soon. 
Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola reportedly confiscated 60 bottles of champagne which was delivered to his team’s dressing room after they reached the Champions League final following a 4-0 victory over Real Madrid. Recall that after a tense 1-1 draw in the first leg of the semi-final, City tore their Spanish opponents to shreds at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, May 17, to secure a 5-1 aggregate victory. 
It is also believed that Pep Guardiola promised to take his players and their families “out for a celebratory meal and drinks at the end of the season” regardless of if they win any silverware or not. Manchester City, however, now has a silverware as they were crowned winners of the Premier League title for this season following Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, May 20. The next target will be winning the FA Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley on June 3, before turning their attention to the Champions League final against Internazionale Milan in Istanbul a week later. 
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola took a dig at a reporter after his team drew against Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League clash on Tuesday night. City controlled possession but couldn’t translate it into significant scoring opportunities. Their talisman, Erling Haaland wasted a few early chances but wasn’t much of a threat throughout the game at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. 
Vinícius Júnior put Madrid ahead with a shot into the top corner in the first half and De Bruyne equalized for the visitors with a powerful one-time shot in the second half. After the match, Guardiola was shocked to hear a reporter suggest that ‘everyone’ thought his side would ‘destroy’ Real Madrid. “Everyone thought we would see City destroy Real Madrid,” a reporter who works with beIN SPORTS told the Manchester City coach. 
Responding to this, Guardiola said; “Who’s everyone? Do you know who we are playing against? “Do you know how many Champions League titles they [Real Madrid] have? It’s not my fault you thought we would win 6-0.” The second leg will be played next week in Manchester. The first leg of the other semifinal between Italian rivals Inter Milan and AC Milan is on Wednesday, May 10. 
Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola has reacted to claims of engaging in a “disrespectful” celebration after his team defeated Liverpool 4-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, April 1. 
Guardiola appeared to celebrate Julian Alvarez’s equaliser in the face of Liverpool substitute Kostas Tsimikas, before bizarrely shaking the hand of Reds midfielder Arthur Melo. Clarifying what happened during the exchange, Guardiola said; “I was happy and I said [to Tsimikas] how nice our goal was.” When another journalist then picked Guardiola up on the incident and enquired whether the celebration was a slight lack of respect for the Liverpool players. Getting visibly more annoyed, he said; 
The 22-year-old who had been on fine form for City before the international break, had to be withdrawn from Norway’s squad due to a groin problem and therefore missed their Euro 2024 qualifiers against Spain and Georgia. Though he has had enough time to rest and also visited the hospital, Guardiola who gave an update on Haaland’s injury on Friday, March 31, said while the player went through a crucial final training session today, he and the doctors will decide how he feels. 
Guardiola said; “Erling [Haaland] is recovering, this afternoon we have the last training session and we are going to see how he feels. We’ll see today. At the end, the doctors and the player will decide how he feels, I spoke with him, he feels good. We will see. Life is risk in these stages, we have to take it.” 
The 34-year-old who retired from professional football on March 22 having enjoyed a career at the highest level for over 15 years, said Jose Mourinho’s behaviour and treatment towards him made him chose Real Madrid over Barcelona. Ozil said the Portuguese manager treated him like a star, while the then-Barca boss, Pep Guardiola did not even make an effort to meet him. He told Marca; 
“It was a decision between Real Madrid and Barcelona. And in the end it was not a case of money. I don’t know if this is known, but I visited Madrid and Barcelona at that time and the difference was Jose Mourinho. Mou gave me a VIP visit to Real Madrid. He took me to see the stadium and all the trophies they had won. That gave me goosebumps. “The visit in Barcelona was less enthusiastic and what was more disappointing is that Pep Guardiola didn’t bother to meet me. Before that trip, I really liked Barcelona’s style of football and I could really imagine playing with them, but Madrid went all out. So Jose Mourinho was without a doubt the most important factor in my decision. After my visits, my decision was one hundred percent clear: I wanted to be a Madridista.”