My wife called from the Arena: ‘Something’s happened, we are running’... Many suffered, we were lucky
Football boss Pep on why terror attack bonded him to Manchester
PEP Guardiola has opened up on how his family ran for their lives in the Manchester Arena terror attack.
The Manchester City manager revealed his blood ran cold when wife Cristina Serra called to say “something had happened” after the bomb blast.
He said he raced to the venue from their city centre home after the line suddenly went dead and faced an agonising wait to hear again from her and daughters Valentina and Maria.
But he also revealed the city’s defiant reaction to the atrocity made a permanent impression on him – and he will feel “Mancunian for the rest of my life”.
Speaking for the first time of the horrific night in May last year, Guardiola said: “When the attack happened, I was at home with my son (Marius) and my wife and daughters were at the arena.
“She called me but the line broke immediately. She told me, ‘Something happened, we are running but I don’t know what
CITY PRIDE Pep Guardiola happened’ and the line broke. We tried to call her again and it didn’t work. “We went to the arena and after five or six minutes she rang and said, ‘We are out, we’re coming back home now’.” Salman Abedi, 22, killed 22 people and injured hundreds more with his suicide bomb at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. Guardiola said: “At the end we were lucky. Many people suffered, and we were lucky. Life is like this.
“We were in a better position than many unfortunate ones.” But the Spaniard, 47, said the way the people of the city rallied in the aftermath proved Abedi had failed in his bid to break their spirit – and made him feel an unbreakable bond with them.
Guardiola said: “When this kind of thing happens it shows the best of us.
“I will be Mancunian for the rest of my life. I will be a Manchester City fan and it will be impossible to train another team like Manchester City in England because I feel love from the people here.”
He also revealed Oasis song Don’t Look Back in Anger, which became an anthem for the city in the wake of the blast, was now one of his favourites, adding: “I love this song, you cannot imagine how much. It is incredible.
“It puts me in the best of myself when I listen – it’s a masterpiece. Every time we go out, we always sing this song together. I love it.
“I like that, after what happened in Manchester at the arena, now it is a song for the people, you know?”
Speaking of life in Manchester, Guardiola said he insisted on being based PEP GUARDIOLA ON THE BOND ATROCITY FORGED in the city centre when he moved there in 2016 from his previous job with Germany’s Bayern Munich. He said: “Always, when I went to Roma, Brescia, New York, Barcelona, I lived in the city.
“I don’t live alone. I live with my wife and kids. It is more comfortable. We like to live in the city, in the middle.”
But he admitted Manchester’s grey skies can be overwhelming, adding: “I would like to see the sky. The rain is not the problem, it is the absence of light.”
During his chat with BBC Radio 5 Live, Guardiola also spoke of meeting Sir Alex Ferguson as he came to the end of his reign at Manchester United, dining with him in New York in 2012.
He said: “I met him more as a person, it was fantastic. It is a joy to meet extraordinary people.”
Fergie, 76, suffered a near-fatal brain haemorrhage earlier this year but returned to Old Trafford on Tuesday to watch the Red Devils beaten 1-0 by Juventus in a Champions League tie.
Guardiola said: “When I saw him with the crowd clapping, how they loved him, he deserved it. I’m so glad he’s coming back and going well.”
I will be Mancunian for the rest of my life. I will be a Man City fan