MAN City manager Pep Guardiola held crisis talks with his wife shortly before signing the new contract blamed for their marital breakdown.
Title-winning Pep, 54, flew to Barcelona for dinner with Cristina Serra in October, with onlookers saying the couple looked “tense”.
A waiter at Bodega Sepulveda, Pep's favorite restaurant in the city, said: 'He came in with his wife about three months ago.
“They were sitting in the corner and things seemed a little tense between them. He talked animatedly.
“We were all shocked when we heard they had split.”
After returning to Britain, Pep signed a two-year contract extension with the reigning Premier League champions, extending his stay until 2027.
It was widely expected that he would leave the club after nine successful years.
And influential Spanish journalists Laura Fa and Lorenza Vazquez claimed his decision was behind the split.
They said: “She will make the decision when he decides to extend his contract with Manchester City as Pep had been preparing his departure from the club in recent months.
“We know that one of his objectives was to leave and move to the United Arab Emirates.
“People around him started saying goodbye to him because he wouldn't renew contact.
“That decision not to renew helped him get closer to his wife.
“But when he decided to stay and renew his contract, Cristina decided enough was enough and it was she who decided to end the marriage.”
Vazquez said: “It was a deliberate decision that the couple talked about for months.
“They still have a cordial and affectionate relationship. No one else is involved. There are no third parties.”
Cristina, 52, had moved back to Barcelona five years ago to run her fashion business, while Pep remained in Manchester to manage the City team.
The couple met in 1994, married in 2014 and have three children together.