Divorce and Manchester City's failures: what's happening with the world's best coach?

The turmoil in Manchester City's game is one of the main storylines in the English Premier League. The crisis in the game of one of the best teams in the world was due to the serious injury of the Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, as well as the weak performance of other leaders. Now it has become known that the personal problems of head coach Josep Guardiola may affect the disastrous season of the "cityzens". Lent.az, referring to foreign media, presents information about the club's problems and the Spanish coach's family drama. Guardiola and Cristina Serra separated after 30 years of marriage. According to reports, the decision was made in December 2024. But then the former spouses asked their close circles not to disclose any details to the press. It is not now either: the couple have always kept what happened in their personal lives a secret. Guardiola and Serra met when Pep was 18 years old. He came to the Serra Claret boutique for a photo shoot. The future wife worked at the checkout. That's how they met. Despite Guardiola's successful career, Cristina not only did not give up business, but also worked tirelessly on the footballer's style. The couple's relationship started in full force in 1994. Guardiola and Serra formalized their relationship only in 2014. They raised three children: Maria (born in 2000), son Marius (2003) and Valentina (2008). Guardiola's 24-year-old eldest daughter Maria is a model with more than 900,000 followers on "Instagram". Her 22-year-old son Marius lives in Dubai and is the CEO of three companies, while her 17-year-old daughter Valentina is a student. According to the Spanish press, the couple has not lived together permanently since 2019. At the same time, there was no talk of any scandal or disagreement - at that time the coach's wife separated from Manchester with one of the children. Allegedly, because of the family business that she previously managed remotely. After that, Serra moved between Barcelona and London and back, while Guardiola remained in Manchester permanently. A year ago, Guardiola said this about his wife:"She is the best in the world in many ways, especially in fashion. She usually tells me - don't wear this, wear this - I follow her. I'm smart enough to know that people know something more than me, so I can follow their advice." He further embellishes these words he said in May 2023:"When I have a five-day vacation and I can take a break from football, I go to Barcelona to be with my wife and young daughter. It helps me. But I don't have such an opportunity every three days."What's wrong with Manchester City? Guardiola works in England - a country that has the most competitive championship, two national cups and the Champions League. It is clear that with this density of the calendar, consecutive five-day rest can only be dreamed of. Compulsory separation from his family was very difficult for Pep in May 2023, and in June of that year he led Manchester City to a long-awaited victory in the Champions League final. Guardiola silenced the crowd that had been clamoring about previous successes only in recent decades because of Barcelona's best squad. It could have been the perfect moment to leave, but Guardiola stayed. And he has faced a number of injuries to Manchester City players. We are not just talking about Rodri here - at various times this season the Spaniard could not rely on John Stones, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and even Kyle Walker, who sharply lowered his position. The situation is no better in the center of the field and on the attacking sides - Kevin de Bruyne, Mateo Kovacic, Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and others have been out of the squad in turn. There is no need to talk about the game and team chemistry in such circumstances. Given all this, the Spaniard's reaction to questions about winter transfers does not seem surprising. Guardiola said during the season "Get my players back." "It's hard to play without four center backs, two midfielders, a winger and the best player in the world Rodri, who we lost all season. Bring them back and you'll see Manchester City again." A person who knows Guardiola's personal drama can look at his press conference after the draw (3:3) with Dutch Feyenoord in the Champions League in a different light. Later, Manchester City missed a three-goal difference, and Guardiola, who appeared in front of journalists after the game with numerous visible scratches on his head and a bloody scrape on his nose, made an unsuccessful appearance, saying that he "only wanted to hurt himself." He later had to apologize for these words. What will happen next? From the end of October to the end of December, when Guardiola separated from his wife, Manchester City won only one of 13 games in all competitions. And after that, they won all three of the three games. You can call it adjusting the problem to the answer, but the fact is that after personal matters were resolved, things started to improve for Pep's team. Manchester City started this season by winning the English Super Cup, but then dropped out of the Premier League title race and also dropped out of the League Cup. At the same time, Guardiola's team continues to fight for two cups - the English Cup and the Champions League. For the rest of the time, the Spaniard can improve the situation and fight for both. Considering his personal and professional problems, the season can be considered successful if Pep can win these tournaments. Guardiola, who will turn 54 on January 18, is under contract until the summer of 2027. In December last year, he admitted that Manchester City will be his last club team. At the same time, he did not rule out the possibility of working at the national team level. Considering that he had previously stated that he would not work as a coach at the age of 60, we may see him at the helm of the Spanish national team (or some other team) at either the 2028 European Championship or the 2030 World Cup. Guardiola is one of the most successful football players and coaches of all time. As a player, he won six league titles and a European Cup with Barcelona, and as a coach, he won three Champions Leagues and 12 league titles, as well as more than 20 other awards during his time with Manchester City, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich.