Thierry Henry sympathises with Pep Guardiola amid Manchester City struggles and private life problems | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has received sympathy from one of his former players at Barcelona over ongoing matters in his private life.

The Catalan coach is undergoing arguably the most challenging football season of his top-level management career, falling out of the Premier League title race, facing early elimination from the UEFA Champions League, and exiting the Carabao Cup.

Such have been the challenges put in front of Guardiola that his Manchester City colleagues have been forced to turn to the transfer market in January for only the second time in his Etihad Stadium tenure.

Having spent over €200 million on four new additions into Guardiola’s first-team squad, the hope is that a rebuild and overhaul of an ageing playing roster is now well underway and a return to top-level form can come at the earliest opportunity, perhaps from next season.

But it is not just matters on the pitch that have been impacting Pep Guardiola, with reports from Spain revealing earlier this year that he and his wife Cristina Serra had split after 30 years together, although neither has commented publicly on the claims.

Speaking to Sky Sports over the course of the weekend, former Arsenal and Barcelona star Thierry Henry commented on the effect that private life matters may be having on the Manchester City manager, offering empathy towards the situation.

“Do I feel sorry about what’s happening to Man City and Pep? Yeah I do, in one thing. It’s not easy to deal with what Pep has to deal with outside of football. I went through that when I went to Barcelona,” Henry admitted.

“It’s not easy to deal with stuff like that, when you’re not well mentally. You can see that he’s not his usual self. I had to deal with it when I went to Barcelona, I can tell you it’s not easy. No one would like to deal with that while you have to perform all the time.”

The Frenchman continued, “So I think we can understand. Now if you go back on the field, it’s not good enough. I don’t think that they can cope whenever a team can deal with playing them all the way to ninety minutes and challenge them and look them in their eyes all the way.”

Speaking on the subject of Pep Guardiola’s reported split from his wife over the Christmas period, one of the two journalists who broke the story across Spanish media offered further insight into the pair’s relationship.

Journalist, Lorena Vazquez revealed in follow-up reports that the split has been a ‘carefully-considered’ decision between both Guardiola and Serra discussed over a period of ‘several months’, with no ‘third party’ involved in the separation.

The Manchester City manager will continue to have a ‘cordial and affectionate relationship’ with his wife, and the pair have been spotted publicly with their wedding rings still in place despite reports on their situation.