New book on Pep Guardiola makes it clear how 2016 Celtic Park result sparked job fears

Add as preferred source on Google

Celtic have faced Manchester City three times over the years and have yet to suffer a defeat to the English Premier League club.

Granted, the victory over Pep Guardiola’s side on the US Tour this summer was just a friendly but Celtic did still have to face the likes of Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish to earn that win.

However, it was in the competitive games in the Champions League in 2016 that the Scottish champions piled pressure on the Man City manager.

In a new book called The Pep Revolution by Marti Perarnau that is due to be released this week, the writer details how Guardiola and his coaching team feared the worst after Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic cost Man City four points in the Champions League coupled with some poor results in the Premier League.

Celtic results gave Guardiola a ‘real sense of foreboding’

A double from Moussa Dembele and a Raheem Sterling own goal gave Celtic a point in the September 2016 clash and left Pep Guardiola feeling ‘very troubled’ in his early days as the Man City boss.

The book claims [serialised by the Daily Mail], “‘Pep’s very troubled. All his coaching staff are feeling it, too. There’s a real sense of foreboding.

“The last few results have brought them to a crisis point and Pep has even begun to be concerned about his job security. Six tough, punishing games without a win.

“An inauspicious 3-3 draw at Celtic, losing away to Spurs and then another galling draw, at home to Everton.”

Guardiola’s Celtic ‘torture’

However, a 3-1 win against Barcelona in the next fixture gave Guardiola some respite as Perarnau described the draw against Celtic gave the Spaniard a ‘knot of anxiety in his stomach’ but how beating the La Liga club made him no longer feel like ‘there’s a noose around his neck’ and that ‘he can breathe again’.

Perernau continues, “The penultimate group game, at Borussia Monchengladbach, is just around the corner. City will get the draw they need to go through. Pep will be able to stop worrying and start sleeping again. Or so he thinks.

“‘These past few months have been a complete nightmare. I’ve been a nervous wreck,’ Pep says. His face is expressionless.

“As if almost gagging, his hand to his chest, the words rush out. ‘It’s been total torture ever since Glasgow.’”

Guardiola, obviously, managed to get past that period in his early Man City career and has gone on to become one of the Premier League’s most successful managers after sealing his fourth title in a row last season.

And to be honest, a poor run of results would cast doubt over any new manager’s future. Especially a manager who was, at the time, leading the world’s richest club.

For Celtic thought, it shouldn’t be forgotten that those two results against Man City were massive for the club at the time but would Pep have been dismissed off of the back of those results? I’m not so sure.