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A new Amazon Prime documentary series about Pep Guardiola's final two years at Manchester City shows the manager telling his squad he was "incredibly sad" after captain Kyle Walker asked to leave the club.
The scene takes place before a home match against Chelsea, just days after Walker departed on loan to AC Milan in January 2025. Guardiola addressed his players directly, according to BBC Sport.
"So sad, what happened with Kyle," Guardiola tells the group in the documentary. "It was so easy for him to come to me [and say] 'I'm tired'. But you cannot behave as a captain the way he has done it. You cannot, in the toughest moments in our lives."
He then turns the question on his players: "What did you do my friends? What did you do with your captain? Tell me, what did you do?"
The documentary also captures an earlier confrontation between the two men following a loss at Anfield in December 2024. Walker was at fault for losing the ball to Luis Diaz before the former Liverpool winger won a penalty. Afterwards, in the dressing room, Guardiola addressed the squad directly.
"Kyle has to know that if you lose the ball it's a goal," Guardiola said, drawing an angry response from the defender.
"Every meeting, it's my name," Walker said.
Guardiola replied: "Maybe because you're a captain."
Walker's response was blunt: "OK. You didn't want me to be your captain."
City teammates had chosen Walker as captain for the 2024-25 season. His four vice-captains were Kevin de Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Rodri, and Bernardo Silva. Guardiola had signed a new contract at the club shortly before the Liverpool defeat, after the team suffered four consecutive losses for the first time in his career.
Just after the argument with Walker, the documentary shows Guardiola in tears while addressing his squad again. "If I'm a problem, then you have to tell me," he says. "I won't stay here just for the money, or just for the fact to stay. I extended the contract because I want to be here with you, I want to win a fight in that position. I don't want to feel that I'm leaving and running away from you. I don't want to have that feeling that now the pieces fall down."
He continued: "But if you feel, captains first, then the other ones, for example [feel] that there's a problem, tell me. It's not going to change the love I have for all of you - not one second. But I want to fight. That's all. I'm sorry."
Walker joined City from Tottenham in 2017 for 50 million pounds. He made 316 appearances for the club and won six Premier League titles under Guardiola. His final season at the Etihad ended without a trophy, only the second time that happened during Guardiola's tenure.
