“Boys, I want to confess something”: highly emotional speech revealed! Pep Guardiola jolted Manchester City’s stars awake with an admission about a private crisis
The Prime Video documentary "A Beautiful Obsession" has revealed, among other things, a highly emotional speech by former Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in which he addresses the breakdown of his marriage.
The documentary follows the past two seasons, Guardiola's last at City, and shows, among other things, a dressing-room scene after a 2-0 defeat at Juventus in the Champions League league phase in December 2024.
"Guys, I want to confess something. I am bloody divorced from the most beautiful woman on your planet, my wife, my ex-wife. I love her incredibly, but we have lost the passion," Guardiola told his players after the match. Shortly before that, the Spaniard and his ex-wife Christina Serra, with whom he has three children, had divorced after around 30 years together and ten years of marriage.
He also used his private crisis during an enormously difficult spell on the pitch to appeal to the pride of his stars. "How do you play football? Because you play from an inner drive. Whatever you do in life, do it with passion. I don't want good players, I want players with passion," the coach bellowed through the dressing room.
Pep Guardiola repeatedly appealed to the honour of Manchester City's stars
From the end of October to the end of December 2024, City won just one of 13 competitive matches and lost nine. After the defeat at Juve, direct qualification for the last 16 in the Champions League had slipped out of sight, and even elimination after the league phase was looming.
City recovered as the season went on, but heavy setbacks remained a constant in the 2025/26 campaign too. After a surprise 2-0 home defeat in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen at the end of November 2025, Guardiola again spoke in the dressing room about his personal problems. "I work for you and give up my life for it - my divorce, my family, who are far away, and everything else - for all of you," Guardiola raged before angrily asking the room: "And what do you give me back for it?"
The team's performance had left him "exhausted", the 55-year-old stressed. "I'm finished, I want to stop. If you play like that, I feel alone."
In recent years, the end of the Guardiola era had become increasingly clear. Guardiola took over in Manchester in 2016 and led the club to six English league titles and their first Champions League triumph (2023), among other honours. At the end of May, it then became official that the former Bayern coach was leaving City early, one year before the expiry of his contract.
The Prime Video documentary also shows another highly emotional scene from mid-May during the FA Cup final against Chelsea, one of Guardiola's last matches with the Sky Blues. Alongside the star coach, striker Erling Haaland is at the centre of it.
Pep Guardiola's dressing-room dressing-down of Erling Haaland revealed
At half-time, Guardiola laid into the Norwegian and was clearly deeply dissatisfied with his display in the first 45 minutes: "Are you tired?" Guardiola shouted, before launching into: "Why aren't you fighting for the ball like you did against William Saliba (Arsenal defender, editor's note) and all the other players, in a fucking final? If you're tired, then say it now."
He said he had had to deny six players a place in the squad for the final, "for whom I am ashamed to have left them out. Where is your quality? The runs in behind? In the penalty area? Come on," Guardiola said, targeting Haaland's pride.
In the end, Haaland did not score, but Antoine Semenyo's winner in the 72nd minute still gave City a 1-0 victory over Chelsea and the FA Cup. It was Guardiola's 20th and final title with Manchester.
Where, when or whether the former Spain international will continue his coaching career remains open. Guardiola was recently said to have been close to taking over the crisis-hit Italy national team, but the move fell through. Around the time of his exit from City, it was already considered likely that Guardiola would first take a break from work.
Those thoughts have now surfaced in the Prime Video documentary too: "It will be hard to come back - that's how I feel at the moment. I have to sort out many things that have happened in my private life. In various areas I have to find myself again, I have to find peace and let things sink in. That is one of the main goals."
