A few things struck me about Pep Guardiola’s final two press conferences, none more so than his reluctance to make it about himself. On Friday, journalists had turned up in their droves to pitch a question to him about his departure: Why now? When was the decision made? What will you do next? His opening gambit: “Aston Villa, guys, allez,” which drew a laugh.
Guardiola chose to speak very little about the whys, whens and whats, preferring to highlight “how happy and fortunate he was” to manage Manchester City for a decade. It was not the titles and records he stayed for – though they helped – it was the connection to a city he fell in love with “from day one”.
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Watch Pep Guardiola’s farewell message to Manchester City after the Spaniard departs at the end of the 2025-2026 season.
The debate over him being the Premier League’s best ever was, to him, “not important”, despite dominating the online chatter for weeks before – and no doubt months after.Nor, really, was talk of all the very many trophies – 20 in total – that have adorned his Man City career. When asked directly about his proudest moment he replied: “It’s a question for the people; hopefully they enjoy watching us play.”
The joy of watching Manchester City play under Pep was not necessarily encapsulated in a final performance under him. The fact that Antoine Semenyo scored from a set-play in a drab defeat was perfectly ironic. Almost the antithesis of Pep-ball.
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester City and Aston Villa.
Guardiola stayed rooted to his seat when the opener went in, presumably unenthused by its scrappy creation. Pep teams never have been built on set-piece prowess, they were not about to start now. “A good game for Aston Villa to get all the alcohol out of the bodies after the Europa League,” he joked afterwards.
It was clear from his experimental selection – nine changes from the draw at Bournemouth – that he was not chasing a 270th Premier League…
2026-05-25 10:07:00
