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Pep Guardiola loves talking about football. When he was preparing to become a coach, the Catalan met Marcelo Bielsa for a barbeque in Argentina. They spoke for 11 hours.
In his first season as Barcelona boss, Guardiola’s press conferences were long. He was happy to talk for as long as questions were being asked.
Later, as more criticism came, he got tired – but he still seems to enjoy talking when asked about football.
And over the years, he has come out with many memorable sound bites. Here, a look at some of the Catalan’s best quotes…
32. Winning the European Cup
“Citizens of Catalunya: here you have it!” Pep Guardiola said from the balcony of the Generalitat Palace in Barcelona amid celebrations of the club’s first-ever European Cup win in 1992.
Pep was only 21 at the time, but evoked a phrase uttered by Catalan politician Josep Tarradellas upon his return to Barcelona in 1977 after more than 20 years in exile during the Franco era. Even at a young age, he was different.
31. Fasten your seatbelts
Pep Guardiola left to timid applause from Barcelona fans following his final game as a player in 2001, but was given a rousing reception on his return as coach in 2008.
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Speaking at the Gamper Trophy game against Boca Juniors, he told the Camp Nou crowd: “I won’t promise you that we’ll win a title. We will try and we will persist. Fasten your seatbelts; we’ll have a good time.”
30. More than a wife?
Pep Guardiola was Barcelona’s captain, but the midfielder left in 2001 because he wanted to experience different cultures, going on to play in Italy, Mexico and Qatar.
As a coach, he started out at the Catalan club in 2008, but again sought to broaden his horizons overseas. One day, though, he will probably be back at Camp Nou in some capacity. “They say it’s easier to change your wife than your football team, and it’s true,” he once said.
29. I’m not going to change
Despite his huge success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, there was some scepticism among journalists in Pep Guardiola’s early days at Manchester City – particularly when results were slightly below expectations.
Asked by a reporter in October 2016 if he had thought about changing his style, Guardiola said: “What happens when I think about changing is that the solution is not better than what I believe. And do you know why as well? Because in seven years, I won 21 titles. Sorry guys. That’s three titles per year, playing this way. I am not going to change. I will go home before I change.”
28. 100% possession
Bayern Munich beat Arsenal 5-1 at the Allianz Arena in November 2015 and the Bavarians had 66% of the ball against Arsene Wenger’s side. But Pep Guardiola wanted more.
“What I want, my desire, is to have 100% possession,” the Catalan said after the Champions League clash in Germany.
27. Criticise all you want
Pep Guardiola won plenty of trophies at Bayern Munich, but the Catalan coach was not able to secure the Champions League trophy in his three-tear tenure in Germany, missing out each time in the semi-finals.
After Bayern were knocked out on away goals by Atletico Madrid in 2016, he was visibly upset and said he knew he would be criticised for failing to win the trophy in Munich. Later, he said in a feature for GQ: “Criticise all you want. You will never be more critical with me than I am myself…”
Long before he became Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola spoke fondly about English football. He had also wanted to play in the Premier League.
“I’ve always found English football very fascinating, just for the environment, the crowd and the supporters,” he said in 2013. “I am a lucky guy because I had the opportunity to play two [European Cup] finals, both in England at Wembley, and that’s why my relationship with England is pretty close.”
25. Two Ballons d’Or
Asked his thoughts on the Ballon d’Or and whether Manchester City striker Erling Haaland should win it over his former Barcelona player Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola produced a novel response in September 2023.
“Always I said the Ballon d’Or should be in two sections; one for Messi, then after another one so Haaland should win, yes,” the Catalan said. And he added: “We won the treble, he scored a million goals. The worst season for Messi is the best for the rest of the players. Both deserve it.”
24. I always overthink
After a series of disappointments in the Champions League in his early years at Manchester City, one popular school of thought was that Pep Guardiola was making unnecessary tweaks in the biggest games. That he was overthinking.
Speaking ahead of a quarter-final clash against Atletico in April 2022, Guardiola said: “In the Champions League, I always overthink. I always create new tactics and ideas, and tomorrow you will see a new one. I overthink a lot, that’s why I have very good results in the Champions League. I love it.” There may have been some sarcasm there, though.
23. I hate tiki-taka
If there is one coach in football associated more than any other with the term “tiki taka”, it is Pep Guardiola.
Guardiola’s Barcelona side popularised the term, along with the Spanish national team, but he doesn’t like it. “I hate tiki-taka. Tiki-taka means passing the ball for the sake of it, with no clear intention. And it’s pointless,” he was quoted as saying in the book, Pep Confidential: The Inside Story of Pep Guardiola’s First Season at Bayern Munich. He has also said so a number of times in his press conferences over the years.
Lionel Messi scored both Barcelona goals in a 2-1 win at Racing Santander in February 2009, but coach Pep Guardiola was asked after the game about the Argentine’s aerial ability and his difficulties in that aspect.
“Relax,” he said. “You’ll see that some day, Leo will score from a header. And it will be a good goal.” It was. The Argentine sent a looping header over Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Ser in the Champions League final in May of that year as Barça clinched the treble. And he later described it as his favourite goal.
21. I’m a Mancunian for life
Pep Guardiola said in 2018 that he would be a “Mancunian for the rest of my life” after falling in love with Manchester.
“I will be Mancunian for the rest of my life now,” the Catalan told BBC Five Live in an interview. “I will be a Manchester City fan and it will not be possible to train another team in England like Manchester City because I feel beloved from the people here.”
20. The Harry Kane team
Pep Guardiola upset Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino by referring to Spurs as “the Harry Kane team” in a press conference in October 2017.
Discussing Manchester City’s upcoming opponents, Guardiola said: “We have United [and] the Harry Kane team who scores every game two or three goals.” Pochettino said it was “very disrespectful to our club” and Pep admitted it was a mistake. He later tried to sign the striker for City in 2021.
19. If everyone wants to be a jazz musician…
Pep Guardiola has worked with some of the world’s best players, but he has always stressed the importance of the team over individual talent.
“I don’t like it when a player says, ‘I like freedom; I want to play for myself.’ Because the player has to understand he is part of a team with 10 other players. If everyone wants to be a jazz musician, it will be chaos. They will not be a team, and nothing will be possible,” he said in an interview with NBC in 2017.
18. When I finish I will disappear
Asked in an interview with NBC in 2017 what he loves about football, Pep Guardiola said: “The game itself, the 90 minutes, where you prepare the tactics and the training sessions. That is the reason I’m here.”
And he added: “When I finish my career as a coach I will disappear. You won’t find me again in your life. On the golf course but… I like the game. I think all the managers are like that. Football is a beautiful game.”
17. Everyone in this country supports Liverpool
Speaking to beIN SPORTS in May 2022 after a Premier League game against Newcastle, Pep Guardiola said he thought most people wanted Liverpool to win the title over Manchester City and could not resist a dig at the Reds in the process.
“Everyone in this country supports Liverpool, the media and everyone,” he said. “Of course, because Liverpool has an incredible history in European competition. Not in the Premier League, because they have won one in 30 years, but it is not a problem at all.”
16. Phil Foden doesn’t read books
Phil Foden has developed from a promising teenager to one of the game’s most exciting attackers under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Speaking to Sky Sports about the England international in March 2024, Guardiola said: “When I arrived and he was 17 or 18 years old, he had it. Football, he lives for it. The pressure for Phil is if he has to do a press conference about the last book that he read. But football, he loves it.”
15. I won’t leave even if we’re in League One
Pep Guardiola has faced some difficult questions during his time at Manchester City and those include the topic of the club’s 115 charges for alleged breaches of financial rules.
Asked again about the matter when Everton were hit with a points deduction in November 2023, he said: “At the moment we are innocent until it is proved we are guilty. I know the people want it. I know, I feel it. I will wait. Wait and see it and after the sentence has been done we will come here and explain it. But absolutely I will not consider my future [if] it depends [on] being here or being in League One. Absolutely. There is more chance to stay if we are in League One than if we were in the Champions League.”
14. Cruyff was the best
In an interview with The Guardian ahead of the launch of Johan Cruyff’s posthumous autobiography in 2016, Pep Guardiola spoke about his mentor and former coach at Barcelona.
“He was unique, totally unique,” Guardiola said. “Without him I wouldn’t be here. I know for sure this is why I am, right now, the manager of Manchester City and before that Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Before he came we didn’t have a cathedral of football, this beautiful church, at Barcelona. We needed something new. And now it is something that has lasted. It was built by one man, by Johan Cruyff, stone by stone. That’s why he was special.
“I would not be able to do what he did. You hear all these people saying, ‘Oh Pep, what a good manager he is.’ Forget about it. Cruyff was the best, by far.”
13. I don’t like Manchester weather or food
Pep Guardiola may have fallen in love with Manchester and called himself “a Mancunian for life”, but the Catalan doesn’t love everything about the city.
At a fans forum in June 2017, he said: “I know it’s not the best weather in the world, I know it’s not the most beautiful city in the world, but that’s what makes Manchester so special. I’m a Catalan guy, so Mediterranean food is much better than yours. I’m sorry, in that we are better. If you don’t agree you should go to Italy and Spain in the summer time because the food is better than here.”
12. Four years an eternity at Barça
Pep Guardiola stunned Barcelona fans when he announced in April 2012 that he would be leaving the Catalan club to take a sabbatical after four seasons in charge. But he was tired.
“The reason [I left] is tiredness,” he said in May 2012. “If it wasn’t, I would have liked to continue. We will see what happens in the future. To win 14 titles [trophies] in four years is very difficult to achieve and we are proud of how we have done it. I have to thank the institution. I go with the sensation that I am leaving good things in this club. Four years is an eternity as Barça coach. I have given everything and I have nothing left and need to recharge my batteries.”
11. Catalan pride
Pep Guardiola represented Spain as a player, but the former Barcelona captain and coach has always been a proud Catalan and he gave a passionate speech after receiving a gold medal from the Catalan parliament in September 2011.
“If we get up very, very early, without reproaches, without excuses, we are an unstoppable country,” he said. “Believe me that we are unstoppable. Long live Barça and long live Catalunya!”
10. Messi was my Michael Jordan
Lionel Messi took his game to a new level under Pep Guardiola and after improvements in diet and lifestyle changes, he also stopped getting injured. Together at Barcelona, they won it all.
“For me, Messi is everything in my career and he made me more competitive,” Guardiola said in 2022. “Without him, we would have won [trophies], but not as many. I compare Messi with Michael Jordan when Phil Jackson could feel what it was like to have the best player and he won six [NBA championship] rings. I also won because he made it easy. I still owe him a bottle of wine because thanks to him, I got better contracts.”
9. Haaland will shut your mouth
Following the death of his grandmother, Erling Haaland missed a number of chances in a game against Chelsea, but was back on target with a winner versus Brentford in February 2024.
The Norwegian’s form had come under scrutiny, but Guardiola said: “With top scorers or strikers who score a lot of goals, don’t criticise because he will shut your mouth, that’s for sure. Sooner or later, he is there. Definitely, if I have to choose one [player to be running through on goal], I choose this one.”
8. Lahm is the most intelligent player I’ve trained
Pep Guardiola has coached some of the best players in the world and also in the history of football, but the Catalan hailed Bayern Munich’s Philipp Lahm as “the most intelligent” of them all in 2013.
“Philipp Lahm is perhaps the most intelligent player I have ever trained in my career,” Guardiola said after victory for Bayern over Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup. “He is on another level.”
7. The line between disaster and heroism is fine
Spain were 3-2 down against Yugoslavia with 90 minutes played and staring at a group-stage exit at Euro 2000, but scored twice in added time to seal an epic win in a seven-goal thriller which is remembered as one of the greatest games in the competition’s history.
Pep Guardiola was named Man of the Match and afterwards, he said: “The line between disaster and heroism is extremely fine. It’s not a case of black and white, it’s really just different shades of grey. That was one of the most important games of my career. We played an immense first half, creating a lot of chances, but it was much more difficult in the second.”
6. Iniesta doesn’t dye his hair
Pep Guardiola handed a young Andres Iniesta an award after the Nike Cup in 1999 and famously told Xavi: “You’ll retire me. He’ll retire us both.”
Later, as Iniesta’s coach, he said of the midfielder in 2009: “Andres doesn’t dye his hair, doesn’t wear earrings and hasn’t got any tattoos. That makes him unattractive to the media, but he’s the best.”
5. The perfume saga
During the height of Barcelona’s rivalry with Real Madrid in Pep Guardiola’s time as coach at the Catalan club, he was often criticised by the capital’s media and one journalist nicknamed him “meacolonias” (literally “perfume p*****”) in reference to the perception that he would always seek the moral high ground with his quotes.
In a press conference ahead of a game against Sporting Gijon in September 2010, one journalist asked the Catalan about claims he was “ironic, threatening, challenging, arrogant and that he p****** perfume”, provoking laughter in the press room.
Pep replied, to more laughter: “If they want to continue saying that I am like that, go ahead… I have no choice but to accept it. They already told me that, so yes, I am ironic, threatening and challenging… and I also p*** perfume.”
4. The result is an empty thing
Football is a results business and Pep Guardiola has always understood the pressure to deliver at some of the world’s biggest clubs. But it is not what drives him.
“The result is an empty thing,” he said in 2017. “The result is I’m happy for the next two days because I get less criticism and more time to improve my team. But what satisfies me the most in my job is to feel emotions, the way we play.”
3. All the alcohol in Manchester
Pep Guardiola opened up on Manchester City’s wild Premier League title celebrations after a 1-1 draw against Brighton in May 2023.
“Exceptional game, congratulations to Brighton for deserved qualification for the Europa League officially and the game we played,” Guardiola told Sky Sports. “I think we drank all the alcohol in Manchester and 40 hours later we behaved and we showed the reason we are the champions.”
2. Mourinho is the boss
After Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the final of the Copa del Rey in April 2011, tensions were growing between Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho, with the Portuguese mocking the Catalan after he spoke of a marginal offside call which went against the Blaugrana.
Ahead of the teams’ Champions League semi-final first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu just over 10 days later, the Portuguese continued to provoke his rival and this time, Guardiola hit back. “Señor Mourinho has permitted himself the luxury of calling me Pep, so I will call him Jose,” he said. “Tomorrow at 8.45pm we face each other on the pitch. He has won the battle off the pitch. He’s bested me in that arena the entire season and no doubt will continue to do so. If he wants his own personal Champions League trophy away from the pitch, let him take it home and enjoy it. In this room [the Bernabeu press room] Mourinho is the [expletive] chief, the [expletive] boss.
“He knows all about this and I don’t want to compete with him in here. I’d just like to remind him that I worked with him for four years [at Barcelona]. He knows me and I know him.”
1. If you win, you’ll be eternal
Barcelona had won five out of five trophies under Pep Guardiola and the Blaugrana were going for a sixth. It was special, too – because the Catalan club had never won the Club World Cup or the old Intercontinental Cup.
Before the match against Estudiantes in December 2009, Guardiola gave an emotional speech to his players. “If you don’t win, you’ll still be the best,” he told them. “If you win, you’ll be eternal.” They won.
