Pep Guardiola’s wife called time on their 30-year relationship after the Manchester City manager ‘put football before their relationship’ by signing a two-year contract extension that would have kept him in the UK until 2027, it was claimed today.
Fashion entrepreneur Cristina Serra, who returned to Barcelona from Manchester in 2019 to focus on her business interests but still regularly visited the 53-year-old dad-of-three in his adopted city, decided ‘enough was enough’ after learning he had U-turned on a decision to quit Britain and was going to stay in his current job until 2027.
The explosive allegations were made on Wednesday afternoon by Lorena Vazquez and fellow Spanish journalist Laura Fa, who make up a duo of well-respected showbiz reporters called the Mamarazzis, and broke the story of the couple’s shock marriage break-up earlier this week.
Pep’s previous City deal was due to expire at the end of the season, but he agreed terms on a two-year extension in November.
He said at the time he could not leave the club after suffering four consecutive defeats for the first time in his coaching career.
Lorena, speaking on the Mamarazzi’s weekly Podcast broadcast this afternoon, said: ‘After Cristina returned to Barcelona from Manchester in 2019 to focus on her business interests, it’s true that the first rumours about her marriage to Pep surfaced, but no-one dared talking about there being a relationship crisis and much less so a split.
Pep Guardiola’s decision to renew his Manchester City contract until 2027 was reportedly a key factor in his wife Cristina Serra’s decision to call time on their romantic relationship
Guardiola, pictured with his wife and daughters, signed a two-year extension in November
Guardiola met Serra when they were 18 in 1994 and the couple married in 2014
‘That was until last September which is when those in Pep’s professional circle in Manchester first became surprised at not seeing Cristina in the city following the summer holidays and they began to wonder why she was not in Manchester with him.
‘It was normal up until then to see Cristina in Manchester from time to time despite the fact she’d stopped living there on a full-time basis in 2019 and was mainly dividing her time between Barcelona and London.
‘They’d carried on seeing each other and engaging in family activities and they were continuing to be a couple whenever they met up.
‘Last September Cristina stopped appearing in Manchester.’
After her colleague said the couple’s close circle began to talk openly about a split because in October ‘there was such a distance between them’, Lorena added: ‘One of the things Cristina blamed Pep for was that he was too focused on his professional project and she saw him too involved in what was let’s say the football universe and she perhaps felt the necessity to move her life towards another place.
‘So what happens? Despite the fact that in December they decide to travel to Barcelona and spend Christmas together with their children it’s then that the decision to break up is taken and it’s Cristina that takes the decision.’
Laura went on to double-down on the fact it was Cristina and not Pep who decided to end their relationship by saying: ‘She takes the decision when he decides to extend his contract with Manchester City because in the previous months Pep had been preparing his departure from the club.
‘We know one of his objectives was to leave and move to the United Arab Emirates.
The pair, pictured at Wimbledon, met in 1994 before marrying in an intimate ceremony in 2014
Guardiola and Serra had remained a couple despite not living in the same city (pictured in 2013)
The couple set up a family home together in Barcelona before moving to Germany when Guardiola took the Bayern job. Pictured: The couple at Octoberfest in Munich back in 2014
‘People around him were beginning to say goodbye to him because he wasn’t going to renew his contact.
‘That decision not to renew was helping bring him closer to his wife but when he decided to stay and extend his contract Cristina decided enough was enough and it was her that decided to end the marriage that had lasted so many years.’
Saying they had spoken to Pep and Cristina’s circle of friends as well as people linked professionally to him, she added: ‘All the people we’ve spoken to talk about Pep being obsessed about football and that it goes before everything, and here it’s gone before his marriage and that has cost him.’
Lorena continued: ‘Pep’s circle were the first to be surprised by the materialisation of the contract extension and Pep signing it, and they knew then that this renovation was going to lead to Cristina deciding her sentimental relationship with her husband had to change.
‘Let’s say that rather than coming to a definitive end, this could be a break because the couple’s close circle are talking about the possibility of a reconciliation some time in the future.
‘They tell us that although it’s Cristina that left Manchester and has taken this decision, they haven’t ruled out the possibility that one day some way off, when Pep has left football and maybe returns to Barcelona, that they might re-initiate their relationship.
‘We haven’t just spoken to friends but also Pep’s professional circle and what they want to make clear is that it’s a friendly split, that it’s been carefully-considered without fights and that there are no third people.
‘We can’t say for sure that there is no-one else but what is true is that people close to them say there’s been no infidelities and there are no third people.
Serra is regularly seen on the pitch celebrating with her husband after City win major trophies
‘We can’t say whether the divorce papers have been signed but we can say that the possibility of divorce is on the table.’
Earlier today it emerged Pep’s eldest daughter Maria had opened up on her parents’ lessons about love after becoming the first family member to speak since the shock news of their split.
The pretty influencer and fashionista said in a Spanish magazine interview published around the same time her dad’s break-up with his wife-of-30-years emerged: ‘My parents have always advised me to find what I am passionate about.
‘They encourage me to try new things, to accept failure and to keep searching until I find my calling, because when I do, full dedication will come naturally.
‘They also remind me that the most important thing in life is to love and be loved.’
The 24-year-old London-based beauty went on to tell Vanity Fair Spain: ‘In the end it all comes down to feeling loved.
‘Even in situations where we feel out of place, they tell me to listen carefully to others, there is always something valuable to learn from each person we meet.’
Maria, whose siblings are Marius, 22, and Valentina, 17, is believed to have been interviewed after her parents took the decision to end their three-decades long relationship but before news of the split became public.
Serra attended the FIFA Best Awards in London alongside Guardiola in January of last year
Guardiola has masterminded six Premier League title victories and lifted the Champions League with City
It was not immediately clear this morning exactly when she had spoken to the magazine.
Guardiola will have completed 11 years at City when his fresh terms end. He is already the longest-serving manager in the Premier League and the second-longest across all four divisions.
He said shortly after penning his contract extension: ‘Honestly, I think myself, my staff and friends, I think we deserve to be here. I am sorry to say. I am not arrogant to say, but it’s the truth.
‘I think we deserve after four defeats in a row to bounce back and try to turn the situation. In that moment, in the period, I had the feeling you have to take the right decisions for the future and I want to take it.
‘Manchester City means so much to me. This is my ninth season here – we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club. That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.’
