MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Pep Guardiola wore a lumberjack-style shirt and Real Madrid chopped Manchester City down in the Champions League once again.
Who knows how many more chances Guardiola will get to win European club soccer’s greatest prize with just one season remaining on his contract and increasing speculation he could walk away at the end of this campaign.
“Everybody wants to fire me,” Guardiola said when questioned about his future following the 2-1 loss at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday. “One day I will come out here and say ‘bye, bye guys’.”
Guardiola’s position is the subject of much debate after 10 years at City, which is already by far the longest he has stayed at any club as a manager.
He has repeatedly referred to the remaining time on his contract when questioned, but doubts remain.
“The future will be bright and next season we will be back,” he said following the 5-1 aggregate loss in the round-of-16 tie.
Was that a clue as to his immediate plans?
“When I’ve retired in 10 years I will always be City. In the Champions League, I will say I will be back because I am part of them.”
It is difficult to second-guess Guardiola. There has often been speculation about him walking away, but he has repeatedly signed new contracts. He never ended a contract early in his time as coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
But that has not quelled rumors that it will be different this time, with City looking likely to go two years without the Premier League title for the first time since he was appointed in 2016.
If this was his final tilt at the Champions League with City, he was giving little away.
At the final whistle he magnanimously shook hands with all the Madrid players after yet another loss at the hands of the record 15-time European champion.
No team has done more to curb his ambitions in this competition than Madrid.
This was the fourth time in five years that the Spanish giant has eliminated City from the Champions League. The one exception over that period coming in 2023 when City went on to win the trophy for the first and only time.
Given City’s dominance in England and the billions of dollars spent to assemble one of the most expensive squads in history, one Champions League in 10 years under Guardiola may feel like an underachievement.
If not for Madrid, it could have been a different story. So often it has cursed City’s ambitions.
“I should win six Champions Leagues,” Guardiola said mockingly when questioned about his record. He has won the trophy three times in total — twice with Barcelona.
He said it was considered a “failure” if he couldn’t match the treble of trophies he won in his first season at Barcelona — the Spanish title, Cup and Champions League.
“We tried, finals, semifinals,” he added. “I would love that (this) club have the feeling that Madrid have… (if) you don’t win the Champions League it is failure.
“In time maybe we will get that.”
Madrid’s victory came despite being considered the underdog due to injuries to key players like Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo.
Coach Alvaro Arbeloa is in his first job in elite management yet has led his team to wins over Jose Mourinho and now Guardiola in back-to-back rounds in the Champions League.
Explaining those results — knocking out Porto in the playoffs and now City — he said it proved only “that I have unbelievable players.”
“I wouldn’t dare to say that I can beat Pep Guadiola in terms of tactical way,” he said. “He’s an elite coach. He’s won thousands of trophies in his career—- some of the biggest in Europe. What we’ve won is a tie.”
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
