At the end, Pep Guardiola looks at peace after reinventing the wheel at Manchester City | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola will sit in the dugout as Manchester City manager for one final time today when his team takes on Aston Villa. Today’s match is City’s final game of the 2025-26 season. This season has been a success for City, as Pep Guardiola guided his team to the FA Cup and Carabao Cup and has City well-positioned for the future. Pep Guardiola’s decision to step aside as City manager was officially announced on Friday. From that moment onward, Guardiola has seemed at peace with his decision as he prepares to set off on a well-deserved break from football.

Pep Guardiola believes the time is right for him to leave City.

Pep Guardiola’s final pre-game press conference on Friday was a much-anticipated event. Guardiola has long been the master of the press conference. His ability to hold a room in the palm of his hand is just part of his mystique as a manager. Throughout Pep Guardiola’s press conference on Friday, he looked like a man who was at peace with his decision. After seeing Guardiola constantly on the go and always ready for the next challenge, it was refreshing to see him fully content with everything he has achieved at Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola revealed that he has had fun during his decade at Manchester City. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have spent 10 years as City manager. Also, Guardiola revealed that he will not have the energy he needs to give his all to the job and now is the right time for a refresh at City. He explained: “Even with a lot of titles, if I did not have fun I would not have been here for 10 years. Everything is about how you have fun. When you lose you are more sad and disappointed but in three days you have another one.”

“If you feel fatigue and everything’s not as pleasant, you have to leave. It’s not one person, decision or thing, it’s a question of time. Ten years is a lot of time. To be there all the time, I have to have energy all the time and I had it but I won’t have it. It’s simple. I said that to my players, and the club needs to refresh another step. That’s the reason why and I’m so glad that the club respects me from day one and until now my decision.”

Pep Guardiola has given everything to Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola will get his well-deserved rest after Sunday’s match against Aston Villa and after Monday’s parade and event at Co-op Live. There are no more seasons to plan for, tactical shifts to implement, wheels to reinvent, or rivals to counter. Guardiola has done everyone for Manchester City and given all of himself to the club in the process. He now looks like a man at peace with his decision to step aside.

Manchester City will name the newly expanded and redeveloped North Stand, which opens for today’s match, after Pep Guardiola. They have also commissioned a statue to be made in Guardiola’s honor, which will feature on the approach to the Pep Guardiola stand. That is a fitting tribute to Manchester City’s greatest ever manager. When Guardiola does return to the Etihad as a spectator, he will forever be reminded of his importance to Manchester City. That is a fitting honor for a manager who gave everything he had to City and who looks at peace with his decision to call time after a decade as Manchester City’s manager.