The reason why Pep Guardiola missed the latest Manchester City press conference has now emerged. The Catalan's absence came after he gave a speech at a pro-Palestine event in Barcelona earlier in the week.
Guardiola has been the manager of the Etihad outfit since July 2016, winning six Premier League titles in that time, as well as the Champions League. Amid rumours that this could be his final season with the Cityzens, he will be desperate to get his hands on another major trophy or two come the end of the 2025/26 campaign.
Man City take on Tottenham Hotspur away from home in the league this weekend. They will be hoping to edge closer to table toppers Arsenal, having closed the gap to just four points with a win against Wolves last time out.
Guardiola Misses Press Conference Due to Personal Reasons
Pep Lijnders
Ahead of the trip to Spurs, Guardiola was missing when it came time to do the pre-game press conference. Assistant Pep Lijnders stepped in to address the media instead, explaining that the head coach's absence was due to personal reasons.
In full, he told the press, via the Independent:
“The manager is good, as always, full of ambition and passion but it is a personal matter. He will arrive back here in Manchester today.”
As such, Guardiola will be in the dugout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this Sunday on 1 February. Spurs have, however, proven to be a troublesome opponent in the past. Having played them 24 times as a coach, Guardiola has lost against them ten times.
That's the joint-most defeats to any opposition team in his career, but those defeats have come in the fewest games. Indeed, he's lost to Manchester United ten times in 31 games, and Liverpool ten times in 25 matches.
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Guardiola Speaks Out on the Conflict in Gaza
Guardiola made headlines this week when he delivered an impassioned speech on the Gaza conflict at a pro-Palestinian rally in his native Barcelona. The charity concert took place at Palau Sant Jordi sports arena on Thursday evening, the day before the press conference.
Waring a traditional Palestinian keffiyeh scarf as he spoke in front of 12,000 people in Barcelona, he said: “When I see a child in these past two years with these images on social media, on television, recording himself, pleading, ‘Where is my mother?’ among the rubble and he still doesn’t know it… I always think: ‘What must they be thinking?’ And I think we have left them alone, abandoned. I always imagine them saying, ‘Where are you? Come help us’.
“And even now, we haven’t done it. Perhaps because those in power are cowards, because they basically send innocent young people to kill innocent people. That is what cowards do. Because they are in their homes, with heating when it’s cold and air conditioning when it’s hot.
“We must take a step forward. Simply being present alone means so much — so very, very much. What bombs cause — and what they want to cause — is silence, and for us to look the other way. That is their only goal: that we do not take a step forward. And this is what we must resist. We must simply not look the other way; we must get involved and participate.
“We stand before the world to show that, naturally, we are on the side of the weaker — who in this case is Palestine. But not Palestine alone; all causes. This is a statement for Palestine, and it is a statement for humanity.”
Guardiola is not the first sporting figure to speak out against the conflict in Gaza, with more than 70 athletes, including Paul Pogba, signing a petition in 2025, calling on UEFA to suspend Israel from competing in footballing competition until they 'comply with international law and end the killing of civilians'.