Nathan Ake busts Pep Guardiola myth by detailing touching reaction to dad's tragic death

Nathan Ake has revealed how Pep Guardiola gave him a shoulder to cry on when his father was dying.

Ake, 26, turned to his Manchester City manager for comfort when his dad Moise was losing his long battle with prostate cancer two years ago. The Dutch defender’s father passed away in September 2021, just a few minutes after watching his son score his first Champions League goal on TV.

Now Ake has thanked Guardiola for the support he gave him after admitting that his father’s illness cast a huge shadow over his career for a decade. It explodes the myth that the key to the Catalan’s incredible success is that football comes before everything.

Ake said: “I am grateful to Pep for all he means to me on and off the pitch. When my father passed away two years ago, he was fantastic for me. If I needed things or if I wanted time off, I just had to tell him. He gave me all the time and space I needed.

“I was about 16 when my father got the bad news. They told him ‘you have prostate cancer, it's spread all over your body and basically you are done.’ He was only 50 at the time and eventually got to 63. It was a sledgehammer blow when they told me. I was struggling at the time with school and football.

“It was hard to swallow. At home, we didn't really talk about it. Life went on. My parents didn't want to share too much with us. I only found out afterwards what they had been through all these years. They never told me so as not to burden me with it.

“Things got a little better at one point. The cancer even seemed gone for a while. But in the last few years, it was back. Sort of under control, but it kept going up and down. Around the European Championships in 2021, my father still came to watch games - and then he really went downhill.”

Ake