Published: 07:00 BST, 18 August 2026 | Updated: 17:39 BST, 18 August 2026
Pep Guardiola used the painful divorce from wife Cristina Serra as a motivational tool during team talks amid a worst-ever run as Manchester City manager.
While presiding over a wretched stretch of nine defeats in 12 games, the Catalan dug deep into his soul in an attempt to shock City players into action.
After losing 2-0 away at Juventus in the Champions League, a visibly frustrated Guardiola compared the separation to a sharp decline in performances from his team.
The admission to his players about the divorce in December 2024 came weeks before news of the split publicly emerged, with Guardiola and Serra having only told a handful of close confidantes.
Footage of the team talk is revealed on the Prime Video documentary, A Beautiful Obsession, charting Guardiola's final two years at the helm.
'Guys, I want to confess something,' he said inside the Allianz Arena. 'I'm f***ing divorced from the most beautiful woman in your planet. My wife. My ex-wife.
Pep Guardiola told his Man City stars he was divorcing 'the most beautiful woman in our planet' in an emotional dressing room moment filmed by Amazon Prime
Guardiola's painful divorce from wife Cristina Serra played out to a backdrop of bad Man City performances in 2024-25
'I love her unbelievably! But we lost the passion. For many reasons, we lost the passion. I love her? Yeah, absolutely. She loves me? Yeah. But we lost the passion.
'How do you play football? Because you [just] play or because you have something inside? Where is the passion?
'In your life, whatever you are going to do, do it with passion. I don't want good players. I want players with passion.'
City would go on to lose against Manchester United and Aston Villa in the week after that, before then rediscovering some form after New Year, eventually securing a top three finish and reaching the FA Cup final.
'I never had to go to the locker room to speak to the players – only once,' revealed Guardiola's confidante and head of player protocol Manel Estiarte of a meeting before his team talk at Juventus. 'Because they were worried because Pep was anxious. He was sad. He was different. And only I knew the reason.
'And I said to them, 'please you have to understand. You're not playing with a coach who can be a bit impulsive, who can be a bit intense. You're seeing a human being. He's getting a divorce.'
