Why was Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola upset after he called Julia Roberts his idol?

Pep Guardiola’s sometimes dangerous mind confessed in a recent press conference that he had 3 idols in his life: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Julia Roberts. Please, keep reading, this is not a dream. The Manchester City boss sat down in front of journalists for the Champions League Round of 16 post-match press conference (in which his City side beat Leipzig 7-0) and spoke about himself being a failure in the European tournament, but not for the reason you might think.

“I’m going to tell you a secret”, the boss announced, “I have 3 idols in my life: Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Julia Roberts.” The crowd say below didn’t know whether to laugh or not, so the clatter of keyboards from behind the camera suggests they decided to type.

“Julia Roberts, years ago, came to Manchester”, he continued, “not in the 90s, when with Alex Ferguson they were winning titles... she came when we were better than [Manchester] United for four or five years... and she went to visit Man United!” His eyes opened wide and a Mona Lisa smile flashed across his face: Pep’s idol had stood him up.

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“She didn’t come to see us! That’s why, even if I win the Champions League, I can’t compare, for the fact that Julia Roberts came to Manchester and didn’t even come to see us. My idol.” It almost felt sad in the room. “Even if I don’t win the Champions League, it won’t compare to the disappointment I had.”

City’s rivals troll Pep

Given the unexpected and frankly bizarre comments by the City manager, it was only to be expected that others did not take their chance to get one over on the Catalan. Manchester United, who Julia Roberts, one of America’s sweethearts, did visit during her trip to the UK, wasted no time in launching a cheeky tweet regarding the matter.

“Throwing it back to when Julia Roberts visited Old Trafford”, they tweeted, the morning after the comments. a coincidence, no doubt.