Pep Guardiola makes Barcelona and Real Madrid sacking admission after latest Manchester City season | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes his most-recent campaign at the Etihad Stadium would have left him out of work at either Barcelona or Real Madrid.

For only the second season in his tenure as Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola ended a campaign without a single major trophy to his name, but has been keen to point out the Community Shield triumph over Manchester United last August as a silverware success.

In the Premier League, it was Arne Slot and Liverpool who ran away with the top-flight title, while the UEFA Champions League would see City crash out before the last-16 stage for the first time since 2012 at the hands of Real Madrid in a play-off clash.

As for the Carabao Cup, it would be a relatively early exit as Tottenham defeated City in the fourth round, while the FA Cup would bring a second successive Final stage defeat, this time at the hands of Crystal Palace and a solitary Eberechi Eze goal.

A torrid run of form across the months of November and December, and hugely inconsistent performances in January and February, saw Manchester City falter and almost miss out on a top-five finish before a late surge recorded a European qualification place for next season.

Speaking during a new interview, manager Pep Guardiola has admitted that the likes of Spain’s biggest clubs may not have had the same patient approach towards his future as Manchester City following the most-recent campaign.

“With the year we’ve had, if this were Spain, I wouldn’t be coaching in October, November or December. If this were Barça or Madrid, they would have sacked me. But here it wasn’t even a question,” Guardiola said.

The Manchester City manager continued, “You have to have a little more patience. Look at Carlo Ancelotti. He won the Champions League and La Liga [at Real Madrid] and now he’s off to coach in Brazil.”

Pep Guardiola will be hoping to get his usual standard of performances back at Manchester City as soon as possible, and will no doubt be looking at this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup as the perfect opportunity to work on such a task.

City have travelled to Boca Raton in Florida this week to gear up for the start of the competition which currently has three group stage games on the agenda for Guardiola’s stars against Wydad AC, Al Ain, and Juventus.

Part of the travelling contingent are also Manchester City’s quartet of summer signings as Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki, and Marcus Bettinelli look to acclimatise to life with the former Premier League champions.