Valenti Guardiola, father of Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, stopped by Radio Villa Trinidad to discuss his son’s qualification for this season’s Champions League final. City will play Chelsea in Istanbul after overcoming Paris Saint-Germain over two legs, with Chelsea seeing off Real Madrid in the other semi-final.
Valenti touched on an array of topics, including whether he’d like to see his son coach La Roja at some point in the future. Pep has been open in the past about being interested in coaching a national team, but has never specified whether it would be Spain or somebody like Brazil. As a proud Catalan, it’s a complex issue.
“No,” Valenti replied in comments carried by Diario AS when asked whether he’d like to see his son coach Spain. “I’m no one to say what he should do, because he’s about to turn 50 and knows what’s good for him to do and what’s not. But yes, I can tell you that I don’t want him to lead the Spanish national team, I don’t think so. To return to Barcelona as a coach or a person in an advisory position I wouldn’t rule out, but not to Spain.”
Guardiola was a Spanish international, earning almost 50 caps for La Roja. As a coach, Guardiola led Barcelona B for a season before a phenomenally successful four-year spell at the helm of the first team. Since then, he’s spent three years in Germany with Bayern Munich and, since 2016, been in England in charge of City.
