Pep Guardiola has reportedly split from his wife after 30 years together.
The Manchester City boss’s attentions have been on turning around the form of the current champions of England, but it appears off the field he has gone his separate ways from long-term partner Cristina Serra.
The Sunday Mirrorreported in 2019 that Serra had returned to Barcelona with one of their three children, and more than five years on the couple have now split, according to reports in Spain.
Despite the split, Guardiola and Serra are said to be on good terms. They were reportedly seen together at Christmas going to the theatre with one of their daughters.
The couple met in 1994 when Guardiola was a player for Barcelona, but did not marry until 2014 in an intimate ceremony. They have three children, daughters Maria and Valentina and son Marius.
Since Serra returned to Barcelona in 2019, the couple are understood to have mainly lived apart, with Guardiola remaining in Manchester while his wife moved between Spain and the UK. But they continued to be seen together on numerous occasions.
The news comes amid an upturn in form for City, who have won their last three games in all competitions after a wretched run saw their hopes of retaining their title go up in smoke.
But they look like being without club captain Kyle Walker for the second half of the campaign, after he expressed his desire to leave the Etihad. Milan duo AC and Inter are both said to be interested, while he has also been linked with a money-spinning switch to Saudi Arabia.
On whether the England right-back will play for City again, Guardiola said: “I don’t know. It depends on how we are going to train. It depends on him.
“The situation is different now, but the transfer window will finish when it finishes and I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“I said to Kyle now it’s a question of the market. He is an incredible player, with incredible physicality and when he’s focused he’s unstoppable as a right-back.
“He’s a top-class player. If he’s fit he can play for one, two, three or four more years as a professional. I’ve never seen a player with these physical conditions in my career.
“If he wants to explore a move away, the club is going to explore, and he has to decide, not me. It’s not my decision. But he has to have an agreement with the club.”
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