Drink, dance and 15 pizzas: Guardiola on Manchester City’s title party

Pep Guardiola celebrated Manchester City’s championship victory so enthusiastically that he was not in “perfect condition” to order his favourite pizza.

City’s fifth Premier League title in nine years and a third under the manager was sealed when Manchester United lost 2-1 at home to Leicester on Tuesday. This prompted Guardiola, his players and staff to gather at the club’s City Football Academy, where they danced and hugged.

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“It was so nice,” the manager said. “The unexpected parties are the nicest ones. If you organise a big party they are normally more boring than last Tuesday. We came here in our [Covid] bubble. We drank a bit, we danced, we hugged a lot, we remembered how good it was. Then at 11.30pm, 15 pizzas arrived and that was the best moment of the night. I was not in perfect condition to decide [which one] – but all of them were so good.

“Here in England parties are always just alcohol, and I don’t understand why. But the moment [they] brought the pizzas was perfect. It was a nice moment, all together here. We celebrated really well.”

Guardiola received messages of congratulations from the Liverpool and Everton managers. “[Jürgen] Klopp I appreciate it a lot, him and Carlo Ancelotti. I don’t answer [their] messages, not yet, but I will today. I appreciate it, I admire them, of course. It was an inspiration for me. He [Klopp] makes me through his teams at [Borussia] Dortmund and Liverpool a better manager, to think a lot about the games and the opponents. I say thank you so much and appreciate him and Carlo.”

Despite the title triumph and City reaching a Champions League final against Chelsea in the Champions League final at the end of the month, the Guardiola insists his side can improve. “From outside you [see us] get results but I still see things I don’t like [in our play],” he said. “When you have the feeling it’s enough and the pleasure is not there, it’s the time to say goodbye, but if the players still want to continue then we are going to carry on.”