Pep: My City are ‘unique’

PEP GUARDIOLA has broken his silence on Manchester City’s title triumph to hail the club’s ‘unique’ spirit. The City boss (below) gave an impassioned speech to more than 80 members of staff as they gathered for the first time since they were crowned champs. He has not given an interview since City sealed the title on Sunday. It is Guardiola’s 23rd trophy as a coach, but he claims his first league title in England is truly special. He said: “To go for nine months, 10 months, every

squad a long time and I’ll be honest, I was finding it hard going away with England.

“I didn’t mind going away with United pre-season for three weeks or whatever and coming back, but going with England, it was almost depressing in a way.

“It made me really down, so I came to the point after South Africa where I thought, ‘I can’t do that again’.

“People would be saying, ‘Pull yourself together and be grateful for it’. I understood the position I was in, the privileged position I was in, but I just found it so hard and I couldn’t deal with it.

“I was depressed at times, yes. I told the FA, ‘Look, please don’t pick me’.”

Carrick, 36, was speaking to BBC2’s ‘Premier League Show’ ahead of his retirement at the end of the season.

Alexis Sanchez is sweating over his place at Wembley for tomorrow’s FA Cup semi-final clash with Tottenham.

Boss Jose Mourinho is considering opting for Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford instead.