A video of Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola, reacting furiously to a man who taunted him after a defeat has taken social media by storm. The 24-second clip shows the Catalan coach strolling down a street, dressed in a grey suit and carrying a rucksack and bags.
His peaceful night-time walk was interrupted by a man filming him, who quipped: “mate, just because you lost”. This comment sparked Guardiola to turn around and confront the cameraman, only to be restrained by two people accompanying him.
Despite their efforts, they couldn’t prevent Guardiola from responding to the jibe. Clearly irked by the encounter, the 53 year old retorted: “Do you know what is lost? ” as he was led away from the scene.
Another man, clutching a pen and book, continued to follow Guardiola, pleading: “Pep, please, I didn’t say that.”
As the former Barcelona boss was repeatedly prevented from approaching the initial antagonist, they responded simply with: “No, it’s fine,” reports the Mirror.
While some initially speculated that Guardiola’s reaction was due to City’s current form, it seems the incident occurred after the club’s loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup final.
Guardiola donned his sharp suit and tie, echoing his look for the glitzy Wembley event back in May. On that fateful day, strikes from Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho reportedly saved Erik ten Hag’s bacon.
Fast forward to a more recent success over Nottingham Forest, Guardiola broke a bothersome seven-game winless streak, prompting him to admit: “We needed it. The club, the players, everyone needed to win,” before adding cautiously, “But it is just one game and in three days we are at Selhurst Park, where it has always been difficult.”
Despite a much-needed win, Guardiola didn’t shy away from critiquing his team, saying, “We played good. We still conceded some transitions and missed some easy things and lost some passes that you have to avoid. But in general, the most important thing was to break this routine of not winning games and we won it.”