MANCHESTER City boss Pep Guardiola has been so stressed in recent months that he has sworn at autograph hunters and bled from scratching his head.
He is posting the worst run of results in an impeccable career.
After winning six Premier League titles in seven years, his usually invincible team went seven games without a win.
And they have managed just three wins in their last ten Prem matches.
But now it appears his bizarre behavior could also be a response to the end of his marriage to teenage sweetheart Cristina Serra.
This week it was announced that the 53-year-old football legend has divorced the mother of his three children after 30 years.
The couple reportedly ended things FIVE YEARS ago but kept the news under wraps until they officially split last month.
A knowledgeable source in Pep's home country of Spain said: “I can assure you they live separately and only a handful of people knew about this.”
The breakup announcement was preceded by his worst ever performance as a manager, with his once invincible side losing five games in a row before Christmas.
'Already tempting'
There have been rumors for some time that the relationship was not going well.
In 2019, Cristina, 52, moved back to Barcelona with the couple's youngest daughter, Valentina, 17, while Pep remained in Manchester.
But in public, Pep's love for Cristina, whom he married in 2014, seemed as strong as ever.
They spent this Christmas together and were at the Royal Box on Center Court at Wimbledon last summer, having previously been spotted on idyllic holidays and sharing an emotional kiss after Man City won the Champions League for the first time in 2023.
He has credited his wife with his great fashion sense and for raising his children.
Brazil's Cristina was so important to the Spaniard that he refused to join a team without her permission.
In a rare personal interview in 2018, he said: “Only at home do I feel safe. I mean safe in the sense that you are not complied with. I close the door and feel safe.
“My work is demanding. Cristina is an incredible woman, not just an incredible mother.
“If we were talking about moving to New York, Munich and here, if she decides not to come, then I won't come. I won't be here, I can't be alone in this kind of work without my family.”
The romance began when an 18-year-old Pep went to a Barcelona fashion store owned by Cristina's family to model some outfits by Spanish designer Antonio Miro.
He was playing for Barcelona's B team at the time, while she was an actress who had appeared on Spanish TV.
Pep's sister Francesca once said: “He was very handsome, a good student, always got good grades, the teachers drooled over him, he was seductive even when he was little.”
Cristina quit acting to focus on her successful clothing business and is now said to be worth more than £30 million.
Meanwhile, Pep established himself as one of the best midfielders of his generation, winning multiple titles with Barcelona's first team.
But in 2001 he tested positive for the banned steroid nandrolone and was banned from playing for four months.
Cristina is said to have been his rock during this time and made a statement defending her husband, who always denied doping. It took him another six years to clear his name on appeal.
Pep was known as 'Perfecto' because of his obsession with the game – and he didn't approve of teammates putting their social lives first.
When he retired as a player in 2006, it did not lead to more time with Cristina, as he immediately moved into management of Barcelona's B team.
As a result, Pep became even more preoccupied with tactics, to the point that he could not carry on a conversation on other topics for more than half an hour.
His friend Manel Estiarte told The Times in 2016: “You invite him to dinner at a restaurant, but after 32 minutes you can see his mind is already wandering.
“He starts staring at the ceiling and even though he's nodding as if he's listening to you, he's not looking at you. In reality, he's probably thinking about the opponent's left back, the marking scheme for the midfielder, how much the wingers can support the inside attackers.”
The manager admits that he can also sink into a world of his own when he is at home with his wife and children.
He said: “My family knows I'm there, but I'm not there. Sometimes I'm home, but not at home.
“They call 'Pep, Pep,' but they know I'm in my own world.” Pep's dedication to his work has more than paid off. He became the youngest manager to win the Champions League in 2009 and lifted the most sought-after trophy in his first season in charge of Barcelona's first team.
However, the demands of executive management took their toll and in 2012 he resigned as boss to take a year off. He admitted: “I'm empty and I need to fill up.”
That gave the family the chance to enjoy a more relaxed life in New York, where they walked around unrecognizable visiting art galleries and hanging out in cafes.
'My wife is so elegant'
But the Premier League's top clubs, including Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, were all after him. He rejected them in 2013 in favor of German giants Bayern Munich, whose stars included Dutch winger Arjen Robben.
When he was with the Bundesliga team, he told the press that Cristina gave her opinion on his starting line-up. Smiling, he said: “My wife is more complicated than Robben. Cristina sometimes complains about my tactical decisions.
“She tells me to repeat the 11 that won me the last match. Explaining my rotation system to her is more difficult than saying to Robben: 'Today you are a substitute'.”
Cristina also shared her thoughts on the well-dressed Pep's clothing choices. He said: “My wife is so elegant, she helps me a lot. I used to be a disaster. But thanks to her, I am elegant now.”
But it took Pep 20 years to make Cristina his wife, and the couple married in 2014 in a civil ceremony in Matadepera, Catalonia.
That was followed two years later by a move to Manchester when he became City boss.
The family lived in a luxury apartment in Salford, not far from the centre, with their children Maria, 24, Marius, 22, and Valentina.
During the short breaks between the long and stressful football seasons, they vacationed in exclusive resorts in Mauritius and Barbados.
But in 2019, Pep's statement that he would only go where his wife was no longer standing appeared to be no longer standing.
Cristina moved back to Barcelona to take care of the fashion industry while he stayed in Manchester.
The new living arrangement coincided with a string of defeats for City, and at the end of the 2019/20 season they lost the Premier League to Liverpool.
Maria went to college in London and is now a social media influencer whose boyfriends reportedly include former England player Dele Alli. Marius lives in Dubai, where he runs a marketing and publicity company.
That appears to leave Pep alone in his £2.7million apartment in Deansgate CitySuites, in central Manchester. Cristina remains the patron of their charitable foundation, Fundación Guardiola Sala, and is expected to keep the £8 million mansion they own in Barcelona.
The split is said to have been amicable and there are no affairs involved.
Spanish reporter Lorena Vazquez said: “It has been a well-considered decision that the couple have talked about for months.
“They still have a cordial and affectionate relationship. No one else is involved. There are no third parties.”
Last summer he showed signs of irritation when he approached a number of young men near his apartment asking for autographs. Pep said to them, “Don't come again, I won't tell you again, I know your faces.”
Fans were concerned when a cut appeared on his nose and there were scratches on his forehead.
After a Champions League draw in November, he addressed the points, saying: “I want to hurt myself. It's from my nail to my finger. I cut myself with my fingernail.”
He was later forced to apologize following accusations that he made light of self-harm.
With the revelation that his marriage is now over, these actions come into a new light.
And what turned out to be his toughest season on the field might also be his toughest off the field.
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