00:00Talking to you, perhaps in one of the earliest visits to England as a manager of Barcelona,
00:06and at the end of the game I asked you, what do you think, and you had your eyes big
00:09open
00:10and said, wow, the noise, and have you seen how big these guys are?
00:15That was what, I guess, shocked you from English football then.
00:18By the sound of it, the FA Cup has got that effect on you still that is special, but what
00:23else of English football still gives you that buzz, that this area is special regarding
00:30football?
00:32Not many things.
00:33Of course, there were.
00:37I think English football is so, I would say, so wide in terms of ideas.
00:44So maybe before it was more 4-4-2, more lombo to the channels and this kind of stuff, a
00:50lot
00:50of crosses and remains that, but then now it's completely bright in terms of many managers
00:59who is the influence in the football that now is different scenarios in different ways.
01:03I think the aesthetic is completely, still is there in terms of the stadiums are magnificent
01:08all of them.
01:09The traditional ones, I can take now Fulham, for example, or Sahu's Park, or the new ones
01:14like Spurs, or like Everton, so it's really cool that the Premier League is in that time
01:21to stop.
01:21The fans support unbelievable the players, all the organisations, so maybe the owners
01:26feel more the pressure for the media than before, they are affected.
01:30So I think the big clubs, when they are stable, don't be too much attached to what the people
01:37say, you know exactly what they have to do, and I think these types of clubs are most sustainable,
01:43financially I would say, and even in terms of success.
01:46North Western doesn't mean to win the titles, it's being there, there, up there.
01:50That's for me a success for many, many years, and still I think the English people have to
01:58be so proud for the competition that they have, we have here in England, because it's top in
02:04all departments.
02:05Sometimes fatigue is there, it's only, but it's the calendar, the man of games is not
02:10blame absolutely, it's a man of games, there's a lot of days and a few days to rest, but part
02:17of that is top.
02:21Obviously John Stones is going to leave at the end of the season, he's been such a big
02:24part for you in this club over a number of years.
02:27I'm not expecting you to tell me whether he's going to start or not tomorrow, but when you're
02:30picking a team for a big final, you've got a situation like John's where he's going to
02:33leave.
02:34Are you able to put that sentiment out of your head when you pick the team, or does it
02:38come into your mind sometimes when you have to pick the team for these finals?
02:42A little bit, but I try to be what I believe.
02:48Last game the people started to sing Johnny Stones, Johnny Stones, and I said okay, they
02:53paid the ticket, Johnny Stones must play.
02:57Normally I try to be what requires the team in that moment, or the players I feel more
03:02fit, no fit, whatever, for many reasons.
03:06Is that quite hard though?
03:07I know you've done this job for a long time, but you're still a human being and these feelings
03:10come into your mind.
03:11Do you know what is hard?
03:11Today six players are not even selected.
03:14Six.
03:14That is hard.
03:16And players that help us a lot to be in the final, and where we are, they are not even
03:22on the bench tomorrow.
03:23That is really, really tough.
03:25So, but, unfortunately, it means worries.
03:31Hi, Pep.
03:32It was the FA Cup last year that Nico O'Reilly first really came into the City first team.
03:37When you think about the full-backs you've had at City and in your career, who does Nico
03:43remind you of?
03:44How does he stand out as himself?
03:48The other one.
03:49He's so young.
03:50It's not his position, but I learned a lot.
03:54But the impact he had in this season has been necessary to tell.
03:59So, of course, his position is more central, more close to the box, but the physicality,
04:06his pace, that I remember last season in one game, I don't remember home against lower
04:17divisions, physicality to go and back, and I think he's a perfect player for the, yeah,
04:22this league.
04:24Because physicality does seem to be such a big part of a full-back's role now.
04:30So, you say left-back isn't his position, but do you think it could be his position going
04:34forward?
04:35Where do you see him playing?
04:36Yeah, today is required, of course.
04:38You have to deal, the left-back has to, left-back or right-back, so the full-backs have
04:43to deal with incredible talent, talent, talent, wingers, fast, and one-against-one, skill
04:49and abilities, you have to, in the highest standards, lose the wingers from Bayern Munich,
04:55lose the wingers from PSG, from Barcelona, Madrid, or Arsenal, or all the big clubs.
05:02So, always they have incredible.
05:04And you have to sustain these laws, otherwise, otherwise you suffer.
05:09They need just one brilliant action to punish you, and you have to be there.
05:13You have to be there.
05:15You have to be there.
05:15Pep, you were talking about Buenaventura and Xabi leaving earlier.
05:19I just wondered how, because obviously quite a lot of coaches come and go during your time
05:25here.
05:25How crucial has it been that you've been able to replace these coaches with such sort
05:32of elite guys coming in after them?
05:35And how does that work?
05:36How do you find them?
05:37Well, there are people in the staff in one decade, there are people that stay, and there
05:41are people that for themselves, I want to leave, I want to step up.
05:46I didn't have any absolute conflict in any of them, and most of them said,
05:50OK, my period have a better offer economically, or positions higher in other clubs,
05:54or even here.
05:55Even here people in the staff, our group of staff, go in the group, city football group,
05:59or in the club in other positions.
06:01So, it's happened.
06:03It's normal.
06:04So, the players are not the same, and the staff are not the same.
06:08It's a natural, you know, development of the position.
06:12As much as always try to, you know, when they leave, remember that they were in an extraordinary
06:19place.
06:20That is why everybody has to make this contribution to feel that the people is here or living,
06:26said, OK, it was a perfect place to be in this part of my life, and this has to be.
06:32But it feels like the club has replaced those coaches really, really well.
06:37In a sense, if, you know, Enzo came in, and Wanmar came in, and now Linders is here, and things
06:43like that, they seem to have just got it right.
06:46Yeah, but I'm not just, I'm not talking just about the specific staff.
06:48So, with backroom staff, a lot of physios or doctors are the same, but the physios and many,
06:54many people back and forth, people in the kitchen, for example, and people inside, there are a lot of
06:59people that leave.
07:00And in that process of many years, you are attached to them, because we live every day,
07:05a lot of time, you know, spend time.
07:07And when they leave, I say, I'm not the one to say, no, you have to stay.
07:11So, have family, have dreams, have new perspective, and always has to be respected.
07:16And the club always in that have been easily with the players.
07:19I put an example a thousand million times with the players, that you're not happy you have to leave.
07:22If you just knock the door to the sports director, or even agreement for the other club, but you
07:27want to leave, what sense you have to stay?
07:29The staff, backroom staff, is the same subject.
07:32You have new ideas, you have to follow.
07:37The dreams have to be followed, you have to follow them all the time, all the time.
07:40So you cannot stay in the comfort zone, you have to have a dream, I want to achieve it,
07:45because you feel you'll be happy there, you'll be better for many reasons, you have to go for it.
07:48It's too short, that place that we are, it's too short.
07:56Hi Pep, for all the goals that Erling has scored for you, he still hasn't scored a goal at Wembley?
08:01Oh no.
08:02Has he mentioned that to you?
08:02I like this kind of question, tomorrow it's going to happen.
08:06On the opposite side there has been a question, but on that side it's good.
08:11Tomorrow we'll score.
08:12You were able to rest him on Wednesday night though, you were able to give him the night off,
08:16so he's in good shape to sort of break that.
08:18I said it's the end of the season, the fatigue is always there, mentally, physically, a lot.
08:22Erling played a lot, a lot of minutes, and you have three days, now three days,
08:26and after winning or losing, the main target after the game,
08:30take a shower quick, come back to Manchester, go to sleep,
08:33because on Monday you have to fly to Bournemouth.
08:35That is the calendar schedule.
08:37Imagine, imagine, hypothetical, tomorrow we win the game, we cannot even celebrate it.
08:42We have to go home immediately to prepare the final half in Bournemouth.
08:46So this is today what happened in this modern football.
08:52Unfortunately, honestly, that is what it is.
08:54Just a quick one, Pep, you were here last night for the Youth Cup final.
08:58The future of this club looks bright.
09:01They are good, they are good players.
09:05I think the academy for a long time is working really well.
09:07United always played really good, happy to see.
09:10In the stands, Omar, Jason Wilcox,
09:12that was an important part in this club for the last decade, both of them.
09:16Jason in the academy was an incredible job.
09:19Omar, the right hand from Ferran have been top, always in that position,
09:24and see top class players, you know, from United.
09:27Bruno Luke Shaw, one of my favorite players, and Mason Mount,
09:31and, you know, all the players here, the manager, Michael Carrick.
09:34So it was a good gesture to come here because, in the end,
09:39the future, not for City United, maybe in the future for English football,
09:42being here was class, it was top, it was nice.
09:45And, of course, happy because we won, so, of course.
09:49Hi, Pep.
09:50In ten years here, you've won 16 major trophies,
09:53if you don't include Community Shields.
09:5518, yeah.
09:56Included.
09:56Okay, okay.
09:58Nineteen.
09:58I'm not going to argue with you.
10:00Is that the definition of greatness, the fact that you've won so many?
10:05Yeah.
10:07Of course.
10:08Nineteen titles in ten years is not bad.
10:12The reason I ask you, do you almost feel like, even though you are appreciated,
10:15it's once you leave, people will say, okay,
10:18because it's almost taken for granted that you could somehow produce this,
10:21whereas there's a lot of hard work behind it.
10:23They know that they don't need to wait when I'm leaving.
10:25They know I've been, I've been fun.
10:29Huh?
10:29I've been fucking fun.
10:32So, Nineteen titles, five for the twenty in ten years is not bad, honestly.
10:36And so, will it make it sad for you that tomorrow is your last visit to Wembley
10:40in charge of Manchester City?
10:41No way.
10:43No way.
10:44Now have a more year contract.
10:45Yeah, I think.
10:45Thank you, brother, Pierre.
10:46Sir, feel liberty, Austin.
10:47He Tourist, thank you.
10:47You're one of the Gilbert.
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