{"id":602087,"date":"2026-05-24T23:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/602087\/"},"modified":"2026-05-24T23:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T23:01:08","slug":"aston-villas-ollie-watkins-spoils-guardiolas-manchester-city-leaving-party-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/602087\/","title":{"rendered":"Aston Villa\u2019s Ollie Watkins spoils Guardiola\u2019s Manchester City leaving party | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

High emotion: Pep Guardiola was a picture of a man awed by adoration in a post-game sendoff to his era-defining decade piloting Manchester City<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As the manager stood before the tunnel, the 10 years were played out in a highlights reel on the stadium screen. What followed was a jog through a guard of honour as Valent\u00ed, his 95-year-old father, watched on, the official announcing of the new Pep Guardiola<\/a> Stand, and an address to the crowd teeming with love and admiration.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cA minute of silence please. I\u2019m so nervous. Terrified. Why do you love me so much?\u201d When fans offered a rendition of \u201c10 more years\u201d, Guardiola asked: \u201cWhy do you do that to me? I never could imagine the amount of love. It\u2019s been incredible, an honour to be your manager. My dad is here in the stands, 95. That [stand] is the huge honour I could receive from this club. My name represents my dad and mum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe players don\u2019t know it but I will be there controlling them<\/a> [from there]. In the next years, you all around the world, you will find me in the streets, and wherever you are as a City fan come and hug me. I will need it. I will say it: \u2018It\u2019s been fucking fun.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Cue blue fireworks going off and one last offering of the \u201cWe\u2019ve Got Guardiola\u201d song and he strode off \u2013 and will soon be on a beach somewhere, starting the next chapter of a remarkable life.<\/p>\n

The 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa<\/a> served, too, as a swansong for Bernardo Silva and John Stones. A comical moment came when the stadium announcer said: \u201cPlease welcome John Stones\u201d \u2013 and they sent the captain\u2019s pooch to walk the guard of honour: Silva\u2019s dog is also called John Stones.<\/p>\n

Quick GuidePremier League teams in Europe next seasonShow<\/p>\n

Champions League Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa, Liverpool<\/p>\n

Europa League Bournemouth, Sunderland (Crystal Palace will also play in the Europa League if they win the Conference League final on Wednesday)<\/p>\n

Conference League Brighton<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

Guardiola said: \u201cBernardo was emotional today before the game. If you want to cry then cry, laugh then laugh. Emotions \u2013 you have to express them. I don\u2019t cry, but when I see somebody else cry, then I cry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watched by players and staff wearing City shirts with \u201c10\u201d and \u201cGuardiola\u201d on them, Silva offered a take on his nine years<\/a>: \u201cPep\u2019s the reason we won so much. He was at the wheel, making the decisions and creating this monster of a team – that was not only successful for one or two seasons, but for a very long time. That\u2019s the most difficult thing. He never stopped creating new things, evolving, not allowing oppositions to adapt.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd on a personal level, he\u2019s my father in football. And I\u2019m really grateful for everything he did for me. And I do believe he\u2019s the greatest manager ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is certainly in the conversation. One reason may be Guardiola\u2019s embracing of the culture, the Catalan living in town through his tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who live in the countryside are a different case; I live in the city,\u201d Guardiola said. \u201cWe like to go to the restaurants and coffee places and cinemas. When I went to [Bayern] Munich and Mexico [to play at Dorados], I tried to understand where I go otherwise I would stay in Barcelona for ever.<\/p>\n

Both sets of players briefly stop play to form a guard of honour for John Stones as he was substituted off in his final game for City. Photograph: Martin Rickett\/PA<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to walk and feel the place. Don\u2019t come here and judge, don\u2019t compare. I said to the family: \u2018If you don\u2019t like, stay in Barcelona. Some things you like, some not but don\u2019t judge.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

A record 60,332 crowd, thanks to the extension in the Guardiola Stand arrived in blazing sunshine and temperatures of more than 25C and saw a crying Silva lead the team out. The victory those of a City stripe craved never arrived owing to Villa\u2019s thirst for the same result illustrating why Unai Emery\u2019s team are a force. Phil Foden had a late equaliser chalked off for offside.<\/p>\n

For passages, those in light blue had Villa where they wanted them: hemmed in, having to repel constant attacks in the heat. The result: Antoine Semenyo\u2019s opener from a corner. Lamare Bogarde flicked it on \u2013 mistakenly \u2013 and the Ghanaian hooked home at the far post.<\/p>\n

In this 593rd game of Guardiola\u2019s garlanded tenure he prowled the technical area, from where every player he has coached has received tutoring containing tactical advice and, when needed, choice invective. Seconds into the second half there was some of this as Stones inadvertently created Ollie Watkins\u2019s equaliser.<\/p>\n

Ollie Watkins is held aloft by his Aston Villa teammates after scoring the winning goal. Photograph: Gary Oakley\/EPA<\/p>\n

A Leon Bailey corner zipped in from the right was headed by Stones against Watkins\u2019s rear and the striker swivelled and flashed in, then took the ball and lifted it up, to merriment, in a mime of Villa\u2019s Europa League trophy hoist<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

City were asleep, moving Guardiola to act: Mateo Kovacic and Rayan Cherki entered for Semenyo and Silva. This drew more tears from City\u2019s No 20, a group hug from teammates, an ovation, and a guard of honour from both teams plus staff, in a heartfelt yet faintly over-the-top move. \u201cNo idea,\u201d said Guardiola about why this occurred.<\/p>\n

It left City 27 minutes to try to avert defeat, at least. They did not. But today was not about the result. Today was about Guardiola. \u201cI gave it my all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High emotion: Pep Guardiola was a picture of a man awed by adoration in a post-game sendoff to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-602087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}