Why Pep Guardiola Missed Tottenham Prematch Duties After Trip to Barcelona

Guardiola was in Barcelona three days before Man City’s clash with Spurs giving a talk about the conflict in Israel and Palestine.

Pep Guardiola was in Barcelona on Thursday. | Gisela Jané/Getty Images

Manchester City confirmed that Pep Guardiola was unable to take his prematch press conference ahead of Sunday’s clash with Tottenham Hotspur due to a “personal reason.”

Guardiola’s assistant coach Pep Lijnders, formerly Jürgen Klopp’s No. 2 at Liverpool, confirmed that his boss “is good, as always” and remains “full of ambition and passion.” The Catalan manager was on the Etihad touchline to see his side earn a 2–0 win over Galatasaray which nudged them into the Champions League top eight on Wednesday night.

During his postmatch debrief in midweek, Guardiola was in good spirits, promising to call arch-rival José Mourinho to thank him for defeating Real Madrid with Benfica which secured City’s passage to the round of 16.

Intriguingly, on Thursday, Guardiola gave a talk during a charity concert in Barcelona appealing for action to support the Palestinian children suffering from the conflict with Israel.

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Will Pep Guardiola Be on the Touchline for Tottenham vs. Man City?

Pep Guardiola (centre) may wish he wasn’t up against Thomas Frank (right) again. | DARREN STAPLES/AFP/Getty Images

Lijnders confirmed that Guardiola “will arrive back here in Manchester” on Friday, affording him plenty of time to find his way to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for Sunday afternoon’s fixture. Whether he will be looking forward to that visit is another matter entirely.

Tottenham’s grand home has been a particularly unhappy hunting ground for Guardiola, almost entirely regardless of the form of his hosts.

Spurs have upset City during their highest highs, downing the perennial Premier League title winners in the 2018–19 Champions League quarter-finals en route to the showpiece fixture in Madrid. Yet they have also found joy in this fixture when times have been tough: Nuno Espírito Santo won just five Premier League games as Tottenham boss, the first of which came against City even though Harry Kane was on strike.

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Pep Guardiola’s Record at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Statistic	Value
Games	9
Managers Faced	5
Wins	3
Draws	0
Defeats	6
Goals Scored	3
Shots Taken	137

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The most curious aspect of Guardiola’s record in N17 is that these clashes have so often followed a prescribed pattern: Spurs somehow withstand a barrage of attacks from their visitors before displaying a brutal clinical edge, often in transition.

Guardiola saw his side fail to find the net with their first 101 shots at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before Nathan Aké bundled one over the line in the 88th minute of the 2024 FA Cup fourth round tie between these two increasingly bitter foes.

“Many times it happened we played really good, many, many times, we were not able to score and win the games,” Guardiola has sighed in the past.

City’s recent trips have been somewhat more fruitful, they now boast three goals in north London, but Thomas Frank’s modern iteration of Tottenham have already beaten the Sky Blues this season.

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What Pep Guardiola Said on Barcelona Trip About Israel-Palestine Conflict

Pep Guardiola gave an impassioned talk while wearing a keffiyeh scarf. | Alberto Paredes/Europa Press/Getty Images

Draped in a keffiyeh scarf, Guardiola addressed a Catalan crowd with what he called “a statement for Palestine and ... a statement for humanity” on Thursday evening.

“Good evening, salam alaikum, how wonderful,” City’s manager began, as quoted by Sky News. “When I see a child in these past two years with these images on social media, on television, recording himself, pleading, ‘Where is my mother?’ among the rubble and he still doesn’t know it.

“And I always think: ‘What must they be thinking?’ And I think we have left them alone, abandoned. I always imagine them saying: ‘Where are you? Come help us.’

“And even now, we haven’t done it. Perhaps because those in power are cowards, because they basically send innocent young people to kill innocent people.”

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