Pep Guardiola certainly enjoyed his summer off – he was spotted belting out Oasis lyrics at Heaton Park and even experimented with some bold new facial hair.
But the Manchester City boss is well and truly back to business now after his side’s thumping 4-0 victory at Wolves in their opening game of the Premier League season at the weekend.
The Spaniard was noticeably no-longer rocking the moustache he was sporting during the off-season at Molineux, and has now revealed he was forced to grow back his beard at the request of his daughter, Maria.
Supporters noticed Guardiola’s surprising new look when he was seen at the Monarka Clinic in Barcelona, and it’s fair to say the experiment didn’t quite come off for the legendary manager as fans compared his moustache to that of Ted Lasso.
‘It’s gone,’ Guardiola told Men in Blazers this week, ‘my daughter said it was horrible so I had to get it off.’
Guardiola also spoke about his experience watching Oasis earlier this summer.
Pep Guardiola has revealed his daughter Maria (pictured left) asked him to shave his ‘horrible’ moustache off
The Man City boss was spotted sporting the peculiar new facial hair during a trip to Barcelona in the summer
The iconic band have embarked on a reunion tour titled Oasis Live ’25 which has seen music-lovers across the country, and the world, clambering for tickets.
Warring brothers Noel, 58, and Liam, 52, were seen embracing for the first time in more than 15 years at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in early July before rocking shows at Murrayfield, Wembley Stadium and Heaton Park, where they played to an audience consisting of a host of Man City players and, of course, Guardiola.
The former Barcelona boss was spotted singing Don’t Look Back in Anger word-for-word while donning a retro Man City shirt before heading backstage for photos with the men of the moment’s children Donavan, Sonny, Anais, Gene, and Lennon.
Gene, Liam’s son, shared the snap to his Instagram, writing: ‘Pic of the century, alright? now everyone els (sic) f*** off.’
Pep described his evening at Oasis, during which Noel shouted him out on stage, as ‘overwhelming’.
‘It’s the best band of the last 50 years after maybe The Beatles or something like that,’ the 54-year-old claimed.
‘In the UK they’ve been the best by far and (for them) to have this love for me and my family and how they’ve cared for me since I’ve arrived.
‘Listen I want to confess something, the first day I arrived here at Man City 10 years ago, the first interview I did was with Noel.
Guardiola enjoyed his summer off following the Club World Cup in June
In the new interview, he also opened up on being ‘overwhelmed’ at Oasis’ reunion tour earlier this summer
The legendary manager partied with the Gallagher brothers’ children at the concert (L-R Donavan, Sonny, Anais, Gene, Guardiola and Lennon)
Liam and Noel have captivated the nation this summer with the Oasis Live ’25 tour
‘At the moment when the interview finished I said, “it’s impossible this isn’t going to go well” when the first interview is done by him. I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a fantastic period.’
And it certainly has been.
Guardiola has won 18 trophies during his decade in Manchester, including six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, two Community Shields, one Super Cup, one Club World Cup and one Champions League.
But last season was something of a struggle for Pep’s side, who went trophy-less and finished a surprising 13 points below league champions Liverpool in third place.
They’ve strengthened this summer nevertheless with the signings of Marcus Bettinelli, Sverre Nypan, James Trafford, Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders in a bid to challenge for the title once again.
And their league campaign got off to a promising start against Wolves at the weekend, with Erling Haaland (2), Reijnders and Cherki on the scoresheet in a 4-0 win.
The Cityzens host Thomas Frank’s Tottenham this weekend in their second fixture of the season.
