Pep Guardiola has endured a wretched season at Manchester City and now a World Cup winner has claimed his ongoing divorce with wife Cristina Serra has taken its toll on him
12:52, 02 Apr 2025
Pep Guardiola and his wife Cristina Serra
Pep Guardiola and his wife Cristina Serra(Image: James Whitehead/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
Emmanuel Petit has labelled Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola as 'clueless' and 'broken'.
Guardiola has endured one of the worst seasons of his managerial career after overseeing City's astonishing fall from grace.
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The English champions dropped out of the title race long before Christmas, and failed to make the knockout stages of the Champions League.
City now face a desperate battle just to secure a top four finish, and must win the FA Cup to avoid finishing the campaign empty handed.
World Cup winner Petit believes Guardiola's divorce from wife Cristina Serra has taken its toll on him.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola has overseen a dreadful season at Manchester City(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
And he reckons the Spaniard's mind is so muddled, he cannot function properly when it comes to influencing games from the sidelines.
The former France and Arsenal midfielder told Pokafirma.com : "Something has been broken with him.
"I don't want to talk about his private matters, but I think what happened outside the pitch, maybe had a big impact on him. Maybe the players saw that.
"When you look at this team, they are not the same team from the last few years.
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"We're talking about guys that just won the Premier League, and we're talking about a team and a manager that's supposed to play at the highest standards domestically and in Europe - but we haven’t seen it.
"The way they've fallen apart at the same time has been shocking to watch. They've lost so many games.
"I think a lot of players looked tired mentally and physically this season, and starting with Pep Guardiola as well on the bench.
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 23: Phil Foden of Manchester City reacts after Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool scores his team's second goal during the Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Liverpool FC at Etihad Stadium on February 23, 2025 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Copa/Getty Images)
Manchester City's players have failed to defend their Premier League title(Image: Molly Darlington/Copa, Getty Images)
"He showed it so many times. He lost his temper. He showed so many times that he was not controlling his emotion on the pitch, and off the pitch as well.
"He's had so many arguments with his players at the end of games this season. The way he was sometimes clueless as well on the bench.
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"He was not able to find the right solution. This is something that was new for me to watch, because I always saw that he always had ideas to find solutions, answers to his team problems.
"And this season I think he was not able to do that."