Pep Guardiola says he controls his emotions ‘much better’ than he used to

Pep Guardiola has admitted he needed to learn to control his emotions more effectively before guiding Manchester City to the treble last season.

A new club-produced documentary which will screen on Netflix from Tuesday goes behind on the scenes of City’s historic season, and shows the message Guardiola gave to his players at half-time during the Champions League final in Istanbul, when the match against Inter Milan was still goalless.

Guardiola is seen trying to settle the nerves of his players, reassuring them they can improve in the second half, before they went on to win 1-0 through Rodri’s 68th minute goal.

Inside the dressing room at half-time of the @ChampionsLeague final…

Watch the full Pep talk in Together: Treble Winners

Coming to @Netflix on 2nd April pic.twitter.com/VRWt7Ww0cX

— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 29, 2024

“You’re exceptional players, playing the Champions League final,” Guardiola tells them. “What you feel is normal, yes. But we don’t give up. Go, go, go. That’s why we are here. We adjust one or two things and we’ll be much more effective. Calm, guys, calm. Keep going, we’ll find momentum.”

Speaking in an interview filmed for the documentary, which is called ‘Together: Treble Winners’, Guardiola contrasted that message with the half-time team talk he gave his side during the 2021 Champions League final against Chelsea.

They had just fallen behind to Kai Havertz’s 42nd minute goal and went on to lose 1-0.

“Of course emotion is so important in the final,” Guardiola said. “The big personalities, the characters. How you approach the moment in half-time, how you overcome, how well you overcome if it’s not a perfect first half, because it’s happened.

“People are human beings, they have the desire to do well, to