Pep Guardiola admits he underestimated football

In the aftermath of Manchester City’s 3-0 defeat by Liverpool, Pep Guardiola has confessed that football is a harder sport than he had previously believed.City conceded three goals in 17 first-half minutes at Anfield, leaving their coach to wonder if association football, which he had previously compared to playing Connect 4 with a blind child, was actually a complex and multi-faceted problem.“I’ve always had great respect for football, but on Wednesday maybe I was guilty of not taking it seriously enough,” a shellshocked Guardiola told FourFourTwo. “Maybe I underestimated it, because I made the mistake of thinking that just because I’ve won nine hundred trophies, and invented the midfielder, and am the greatest influence on football since it was invented by Aloyisius de Football, and achieved unprecedented success while becoming a fashion icon for the style-conscious Catalan separatist, that I had this football thing worked out.“Like this 60x60 sudoku square using Babylonian sexagesimal,” he added, holding up the completed square.“But football has a long and proud history, and maybe I was too quick to dismiss it as a problem I could easily solve, like Fermat’s Last Theorem or the Münchhausen Trilemma.“Now we have a serious problem to solve for the second leg, but I welcome the challengebecause my life is far too easy in every other respect.”Guardiola also said that he had repeatedly tried to underestimate the Premier League, but had found it impossible to do so.Please note: This satirical news story is not real. Incredibly, we have to say this. More Back of the Net • New features you’d love