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Pep Guardiola is arguably the best coach in the world. But reaching that level in elite sport can come at a cost to your health. The Manchester City manager's new project is all about restoring and maintaining it holistically: a clinic in Barcelona specializing in longevity and regenerative medicine.By Héctor IzquierdoPhotography by Adrià Cañameras
July 27, 2025
Adrià Cañameras
Pep Guardiola arrives at the bright room overlooking Barcelona's Passeig de Gràcia, where the GQ team is waiting for him, sharing smiles and hugs. He's in an excellent mood, despite the fact that, I'm warned, he's just arrived from New York and is suffering from severe jet lag. Perhaps his mood is due to that sweet intoxication that fatigue and lack of sleep sometimes produce. Or perhaps he's simply happy to launch the business project he's come to promote in Barcelona, of which he is one of the main shareholders—along with other former FC Barcelona players, such as Thiago Alcántara and Jonathan Soriano, and prominent figures in Catalan society.
“I’m a big investor in big projects…” he replies with a hearty laugh when I ask him why he decided to put his capital, and his image, at the service of the Monarka clinic, which will officially open to the public in a few hours. “No, actually, I did it for Mireia first, and then for Montse, for both of them, because something bad always turns into something good,” he corrects himself immediately, now seriously. He’s referring to doctors Mireia Illueca—a neurosurgeon, expert in regenerative medicine and the approach and treatment of pain—and Montse Escobar—“a psychologist expert in finding the emotional origin of bodily imbalances.”
The bad thing Pep (Sampedor, Barcelona, 1971) is referring to is a herniated disk he suffered a few years ago. The good thing is meeting Mireia and discovering her project. “I had a back problem and she solved it for me, and since then we've known each other and love each other very much. She told me about the clinic, her project, the things she wants to do. Since I've always believed that sports, health, and well-being are beyond fundamental, she said to me: why don't we do it together? And I said: why not? And here we are. I'm not going to cure anyone, but I will keep them company. And that goes a long way.”
Monarka Clinic, located in the best area of Barcelona, right on Passeig de Gràcia, defines itself as "a medical center specializing in health and neurolongevity, with an innovative model of personalized, evolutionary, and conscious medicine." We're not going to define Pep Guardiola at this point. Nor does he need much of an introduction. Considered by many to be the greatest football manager in history, his list of achievements is simply overwhelming: three La Liga titles and two Champions League titles with FC Barcelona , three Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich , six Premier League titles, and one Champions League title with Manchester City .
His coaching record is so irrefutable that it has overshadowed a once equally brilliant playing career, as the quarterback of Johan Cruyff's FC Barcelona team, which earned the nickname "Dream Team" for its effective and eye-catching play. In the Blaugrana shirt, he won six La Liga titles, four Spanish Super Cups, two European Super Cups, two Copa del Reys, one European Cup, and one Cup Winners' Cup.
On November 15, 2006, Pep announced his retirement from the pitch after several years in the lower leagues and after earning his coaching degree in Madrid. On June 21, 2007, he was introduced as manager of FC Barcelona B, with whom he won the third division. The following year, he took over the reins of the first team, inaugurating another golden age in Barça history (managing Messi , Xavi , Iniesta , Busquets , Puyol , Piqué , etc.). Until 2012, when he felt things weren't going any further. He took a year off and went to live with his family in New York. He was already thinking about starting an international career and needed to learn English well.
Adrià Cañameras
On January 16, 2013, Bayern Munich announced his signing for three seasons at €17 million per year, making him the highest-paid manager in the world. To this day, he remains one of the highest-paid at Manchester City (reportedly earning around €30 million per season). He joined the English club in July 2016 and in November of last year, despite rumors of his departure, negotiated a renewal until 2027.
After having his worst season with the Citizens, Guardiola now faces the challenge of renewing the dynasty he himself built on petrodollars. To do so, he will have to reverse the signs of exhaustion in a squad that has dominated the Premier League with an iron fist over the last decade. Rodri 's injury exposed the shame of a team that had no replacement for its star midfielder or solutions to replace him, and perhaps it is this challenge—building on the ruins of success—that has motivated him to continue in the City dugout. It is a test of fire that he refused to face in Barcelona or Munich. If he overcomes it, his legend will grow even more. But before all that happens, we sat down with him to talk about health, sport, success, failure, and why the mind is the most important thing in a footballer's career.
"I didn't feel like we were anything special when I was winning, and now that we haven't won, I don't feel like a failure. Are you trying to judge me or what?"
Guardiola on the haters.
GQ: This clinic is designed for the general public, but at what point does your activity intersect with sports?
Well, in everything. How can you exercise if you're not healthy? Fortunately, medicine has made great strides today thanks to research. Anything other than investing in education and health... Most of our taxes should go to schools and clinics. Because schools will make us better, and clinics will make us live longer. And anything like that, you'll find me there. But I'm a bit, so to speak, ignorant about all this, so you have to know the right people to be able to do it. And in this case, meeting Mireia and Montse helped me.
This clinic takes a very holistic approach to health. Do you use it?
I'm learning. I thought that when you had a bad knee, it only depended on the knee. And with Montse, I've understood that it may come from somewhere else, from the terrace, from the head. In sports, the mind controls everything. The big difference between great athletes and the greatest comes from the head. They all have skills, they all have talent, but control, endurance, mental strength—that life is nothing more than that, falling many times and getting back up again—comes from the head. And there's a relationship between the head and your illnesses, your pathologies, your bad moments. Obviously, you have to treat the pain in your elbow or knees, but everything is related; it also has to do with nutrition. The good thing is that here you have everything in one. You don't have to go from one place to another, go to Badalona, then to Martorell or another clinic.
I suppose you've also contributed something to the project... Although you say you're a bit ignorant on these matters, I imagine that after so many years as a coach, you've at least learned something about the relationship between the physical, mental, and emotional state of athletes, right?
I hope I can help them, but since they know so much, they don't even ask me [laughs]. The day they want to ask me, I'll tell them what I think. But I think they're very prepared. My back wouldn't have touched me, Mireia, if it weren't like that, you can be sure of that. I know what I know. For the rest, I try to find the right people to help me. I don't want to know about surgery, especially with all these people here who can enlighten me.
Cristiano Ronaldo recently made headlines for claiming his biological age is 28. How old is Pep Guardiola?
As I am now, I'm 75 years old [laughs]. I'm a wreck, everything hurts right now. So, if it's my biological age… Maybe if I take the test, I'll come out younger. I hope to be better than I am now in a while. That's why I need places like this to get better.
And do you think that if clinics like this had existed, you would have been able to extend your career as a footballer?
My career stopped when my head said enough. I could have prolonged it, but my head said: I'm tired, I can't do any more. I think I knew how to stop at the right moment. The same thing happened to me with my coaching job [at FC Barcelona]. There came a time when I said enough, that's enough. I'm going to look for another challenge. When you try to push it too hard, things just don't work out. But it was my head, not so much my muscles, or my knees, or my feet.
As you were saying, the head is a big part…
No, that's all.
In an athlete, almost 90%…
No, no, that's everything. In athletes and everywhere. It's the least researched muscle, probably due to difficulty. But it all stems from that.
"I think Lamine Yamal should be allowed to pursue his career. And when he's been playing for fifteen years, we'll decide whether he's better or worse than Messi."
Guardiola on Lamine Yamal.
This is a longevity clinic. How many years of your life does a season against a club like Manchester City take off your life?
Quite a few. Especially if things are going badly. If things are going badly, the nights are harder, the day-to-day is harder. The job of a coach, and I'm not just saying this for myself but for all my colleagues, is 24/7. If not, you won't get through it. The pressure on your shoulders is enormous, and you need people to lend a hand to put things into perspective, above all. You have to try to achieve stability when you have so many ups and downs and you're up to your neck in everything... A friend of mine, who I think defined me very well, once told me that I have three states as a person: euphoric, depressed, and absent. Those are my three states. So the point is to try to stay in the middle of these three.
It's true that coaching is a very demanding profession, but people who've worked with you agree that you're particularly workaholic, that you're nonstop, that with you, it's football 24 hours a day...
Well, yes, I've stopped… I've learned to stop a little. The thing is, you have a kind of responsibility for a lot of people who trust you, who love you: the players, the president, the sporting director… It's that feeling of letting them down. I don't know if it's a cultural or religious thing, the feeling of guilt. I don't know if today's generation of kids goes to church a lot or not, but in my time it was a very important part of our upbringing. And the feeling of guilt for doing good or bad is deeply embedded in me. So letting people down… Success doesn't fall from the sky. Doing it well doesn't come as a gift. You have to put in the hours. There's no other secret. There's a very good saying that says the letter E for effort comes before the letter T for talent in the dictionary. And it's true. Here, you either put in the hours or it doesn't work out. There are always things to do. But over time, I've also learned to step back and that sometimes not working helps you do it better later.
https://www.revistagq.com/articulo/...a74544-01df-41d5-bcf9-457d7b9b1e65_popular4-2
Last season wasn't easy for Manchester City. But if you think about it, it's practically the same players, the same manager, the same methods, the same coaching staff, the same physios... And one year you have a season where you win everything, and the next year nothing works out. How do you interpret a situation like that?
I don't think I'd attribute it so much to last year, but rather to the last seven years. When you win six Premier Leagues, there comes a time when you go downhill. It's human nature. Back then, we probably should have moved more players, but it's very easy to say that after the fact. It's a process that had to be experienced, which happens, which took longer to happen, and when it happened, it went deeper than we could have imagined. Not deep in the sense of ending badly, because in the end, we reached the Copa del Rey final and finished third, not twelfth. It hasn't gone so badly. In retrospect, we'll see that it hasn't been such a bad season. But we have gone for many months without winning games. We've gone like 13 or 14 without winning, and that was... It had never happened before. But it puts you in your place.
Speaking on behalf of Manchester City, it's been very healthy for us to see it happen. Because success confuses you. It hasn't confused us for many years, but this year, players have been getting injured a lot. And you ask yourself: Why have they been getting injured so much when they didn't get injured before? Because the focus is no longer on what you have to do. When the focus is no longer on doing what you have to do, you get injured more. And you think: We'll recover, we'll come back... But the opponent is waiting for you. Why? Because you won a lot. And winning annoys those who don't win and wait for you. And that's what happened. But I think it will be very good for the next five or ten years.
And there were also a lot of people waiting for you, because you'd never had a bad season before.
Well, no. It's not like this one hasn't been bad either. In the Premier League, when you're doing poorly, when you're really doing poorly, you finish twelfth or thirteenth... Ah, what are they waiting for me? Yes, yes, definitely. And I'm delighted to welcome them [laughs]. Delighted. That gives you energy. In the competition, you need people who say: 'Yes? You'll see.' They're the ones who said: 'In Germany, he won't be able to do it, I was with Barcelona because I knew them...' 'In England, you'll see, English football is different...' Well, no. It was done. And it was redone and redone again. Ah, does it ever go wrong? Of course.
Look, one thing about sports is that you can't always win every competition you play. You know why? Because it's impossible. Impossible. So you lose sometimes, well yes, that's part of sports. Michael Jordan was the greatest. He won six rings playing for fifteen years. He lost more than he won. Tiger Woods was the greatest. He won fourteen Grand Slams. Do you know how many he's played in his life? More than a hundred. He lost more than he won. In sports, you lose more than you win. I've played in 16 leagues and won thirteen. So, well, yes, I've lost some. But it hasn't gone badly. And then, as part of sports, part of the process is thinking that the others are also good, that they also do well, that they also prepare, that they also have the people to do well. Ah, this year, if we give up, I'll tell you, we're twelfth, and we're not giving up. We were very bad, very bad, but we were there, we were there… And in the end we finished third, which in the Premier League, I can tell you, isn't bad.
"I'm going to quit after this stage with City, because I need to stop and focus on myself, on my body."
Guardiola on his future.
Yes, but it's you who sets the bar for yourself...
https://www.revistagq.com/articulo/...a74544-01df-41d5-bcf9-457d7b9b1e65_popular4-2
Exactly, exactly…
For Pep Guardiola, finishing third is probably a failure. That was my next question: what does failure mean to you?
And I'm delighted to have failed. I love failures. In this society where everything has to be perfect, where you have to post your food on Instagram... 'Oh, how good, how happy I am.' Every day we have to prove that we're happy. Well, yes, I'm sad, I fail, and I lose. So? So? Name one who doesn't do it. The important thing is to do it, give it your all, and do it well. And I haven't given up on that. I've done poorly, we've had worse results than I expected, but hey, the next day there's another one, and I'm going to try again. And next year I'm going to do better. That's what it's all about.
Adrià Cañameras
It's often said these days that failure means not trying or giving up. But for you, what does failure mean?
It's just that even when I was winning, I didn't feel like we were anything special, and now that we haven't won, I don't feel like a failure. Are you trying to judge me or something?
No, I don't… [laughs]
No, no, no, no, I'm not saying you're sitting here… [laughter]. Does that seem right to you? If you want to put your frustrations on someone else's mind and you're calmer because things haven't gone well for someone else, that's your problem. It's your problem, the problem of the people who want to put the frustration of their lives on me and are happy because things haven't gone well for me. It's going well, no problem. My work is public, and all I have to do is accept it. I prefer Mireia to treat my herniated disk properly and cure it. That's what I want. Win or lose… what does it matter?
Yes, but there are few jobs in the world, generally speaking, where someone is happy when you do badly, or when someone else does badly.
https://www.revistagq.com/articulo/...a74544-01df-41d5-bcf9-457d7b9b1e65_popular4-2
I've been in every away stadium for four or five months this year with the crowd shouting, " You'll be sacked in the morning." I mean, they're going to throw you out. There's no profession—architect, teacher, doctor, journalist—that 60,000 people would ask to lose their jobs. They want you to lose your jobs. But our profession is so well-paid, they pay us so much money, that we can accept this. And if you don't want it, you go do another job. I have a friend, a writer friend, who always tells me, "I wish my books could be criticized, destroyed, like you do when you lose, because it would mean a lot of people reading me." And it's true. How many painters wish their works were seen by millions and millions of people, as our work is?
Ah, you're exposed to this. If things go wrong, people will comment like that. Why? Because it's very emotional. It's pure adrenaline. It's my team against the neighbor's team, the opponent. I'm going to laugh at them if I win, or they're going to laugh at me if my team loses. I put my frustrations on eleven players running around in shorts wearing football boots. It's pure energy. And you have to understand that they criticize you. The day I retire, don't worry, no one will criticize me because I'll disappear. If you want to do this and it's your passion because you like it, in the end you like it, then you're exposed to this. If not, dedicate yourself to something else. But in any specialty, if you were lucky enough to be observed and judged and admired and praised and criticized in the same way, you would be lucky to have the luck we have in our profession for many things.
"This year I've been in every away stadium for four or five months with the crowd shouting, ' You'll be sacked in the morning .' I mean, you're going to be fired. There's no other profession where 60,000 people ask you to lose your job."
Guardiola on his final season with City.
And after your first tough year leading a team, even though, as you say, it wasn't an unmitigated disaster, do you still retain that passion?
Yes, it's different. But imagine if this year had been much, much, much worse than it was. So what? If next season I start again...! It's okay. Ah, there's hope for things to go wrong... But it's okay. So? Yes, we finished third, we had a bad year, name a team that didn't. But hey, luckily we'll be in Europe next year, it's okay. So, the passion is different from when I started. There were more insecurities, there were many more doubts, there were many more fears, but I still love it. In football, there was a moment when I said enough, it's over. And as a coach, there will come a day when I'll say enough, I no longer feel like dealing with players, with opposing tactics, with press conferences every three days, with my boss... I'll say: now I'm my own boss, I no longer have to set the alarm and I can decide my own life. Well, one day it will come, and when it comes, I'll stop and come back later, or not, and then we'll see.
The players are each from their own parents and increasingly multinationals themselves. I imagine it's almost the most complicated job, dealing with them. It's almost like a psychologist's job, a father's job, a brother's job, isn't it?
Yes, but it's also more rewarding, it's also very rewarding. You also have some very good times, dealing with healthy people, like footballers. I've been a footballer, I love them all very much, they've given me a lot, and I've had many conflicts with some of them, but I understand that's because human beings have a part of humanity, even if it doesn't seem like it today. It doesn't seem like it because of what's happening in Ukraine or Palestine, the lack of humanity in all of us, how we don't lift a finger for this tragedy that's happening here three or four hours away, and we just play. Because before, many years ago, World War I and World War II happened... but there was no way to show it, it was hidden. Today we see it on live television and we don't have a shred of a gesture to be able to solve it. The question, where was I going? That I've left...?
The players.
Look, the players, there's only one problem with them, I'll tell you clearly and you'll understand: I have 23 players and I choose eleven every three days. 23 or 22... eleven. The next eleven, whoa! They feel like I don't love them, and it's the opposite, I love them even more because I suffer for them, but those eleven say: 'How come you didn't choose me and chose someone else?' And this is about the same old thing, about feeling loved or not loved. Do you know what I want? Do you know what I want? To be loved, for my people to love me, but a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. Then I'm fine.
There's nothing better than being told, 'Oh, what a piece you've made!' That day you're on a high. Every three days I tell at least eleven different players: You're not good enough and I don't want you, you're good, but your teammate is better than you. That's why there are conflicts, that's all there is to it. How do you solve it? I would love to have only eleven players throughout the year, just eleven. And you coach them, but of course, they get injured, you know? You can't play with seven; you have to have substitutes.
That's it... But we treat them well. The team's nutritionists are fantastic. We have a player care department that takes care of them, their families, their children, they find them schools, gynecologists, pediatricians. If their car breaks down, they send someone to fix it, they have all the luxuries in the sense that they're treated so they can dedicate themselves to training and training well. But they just want to play, because they're very good, right? These eleven who don't play are incredibly good. But for reasons... because of space, sometimes they don't play. 'So I'm here, you pay me money, I'm here so I can play. And you're telling me I'm not doing it, that what I want to do most, which is play, I can't do it.'
Tell me how I fix it. And you tell them: No, it's fine, you're training well, okay, okay. And they think: 'I'll play the next day.' Well, they don't play either. And they don't play either. How can there not be conflicts? Impossible.
Here, one of the three pillars you talk about in the clinic is emotional intelligence. And I get the impression that little work is done on the topic of emotional intelligence with soccer players. What's your opinion?
Well, now everything is moving toward the artificial. But that will never die, the emotional. The artificial can never tell that... when we look into each other's eyes and hug and all that... That can't be replaced. Impossible. Everything will go faster, we'll analyze more, but... That's what it takes will never be replaced. Regarding the question, well, because I didn't go to university to... When I started training at 37, I didn't go to university to have the tools for that. So it's all about that, the stomach, the nose, what... Why do you speak one way or another to someone today? Why do you hug this person today and not the other? It's a lot about your instinct. Today, there are many courses, trained people who can coach you or help you.
There's also a lot of talk these days about the mental health of soccer players, and elite athletes in general. As a player, have you ever had any mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, or anything?
Of course, I was insecure at the beginning. Time really weighed on me, but in the end, you go from training with 17-year-olds to sitting in a press conference with 60 journalists and playing in front of 100,000 people. But experience helps you manage it better. I think young people have it much more complicated these days, because what people think about you… Today, we're all educated not from the inside out, but from the outside in. That is, everything from outside comes to you, it affects you much more. The person who is educated to believe that what others think is not more important than what you think will have emotional stability in their life and will be much, much happier.
Today we think that only what the other person says matters. And I dress a certain way and I like it, and if they tell you I'm not wearing it right now, well, it affects you. The day it doesn't affect you will be much better. Because we want to pretend we're happy all day long. And that's the big mistake. I'd rather tell them: you're sad, that's okay. You're disappointed, that's okay, it'll pass. Like happiness, it will pass. We've lost, we're screwed. Being screwed is okay. You have to live with that.
Nowadays, we all want to be happy all the time and think we're doing well all the time. And today's youth, well, they have a hard time... My children have a hell of a time. We didn't have as much; we were simpler, we didn't have as many choices. When I was little, in my town, I remember spending all day in the plaza, on my scooter, on my bike, playing soccer, or whatever. I'd go home for lunch and dinner. They didn't see me in town. They didn't see me. That doesn't happen now. Now they don't leave the house. This wonderful invention, the telephone, came along, and they're there every day. We're there all day long. But I don't criticize them, because if I had been born in this era, I'd be the same. The same, the same. For us, public figures, this process affects us to the nth degree, and that's why we're insecure, or feel bad, and we get criticized. And if you're not strong, you need the help of people like Montse to help you, not to put things into perspective, but to see things in perspective. Someone who can open up and tell you: 'This happened, you can't change it, but you can accept it and treat it differently.' And footballers are very exposed.
“A friend who defined me very well once told me that I have three states as a person: euphoric, depressed, and absent. The key is to try to stay in the middle of these three.”
Guardiola on his personality
Speaking of young players who have felt a lot of pressure when starting out, we're witnessing the rise of Lamine Yamal , who is often compared to Messi. You've had Messi on the team and you see Lamine from the outside. Do you think it's a fair comparison?
https://www.revistagq.com/articulo/...a74544-01df-41d5-bcf9-457d7b9b1e65_popular4-2
I think Lamine Yamal should be allowed to develop his career. And when he's been playing for fifteen years, we'll decide if he's better or worse. Let him develop his career. And the fact that he's being compared to Messi is a big deal. Like if you compare a painter to Van Gogh, they'll say, wow, he's not bad, it's a sign he's good. And that comparison is a sign he's good. But we have to let him develop his career. And we'll see.
But watching him play, in terms of his style, do you think that…?
It's pretty good, yeah, it seems so.
But?
Messi has been a big deal. 90 goals in one season, for 15 years, nonstop, without injury. That's a big deal. Let him go. Let him go.
Would you like to return to Barcelona one day, or is this a phase of your life over?
It's over. It's over forever. It was very beautiful, but it's over now.
Or as president…
Noooo! I'm no good at this.
Your motivational talks are well-known. Some have even been recorded on video. But how do you motivate yourself? How do you stay motivated?
The fear of losing, the fear of doing it wrong, the fear of failing, the disconnection from the things I do—then I quickly reconnect again. The closer the competition gets, the sensors—I don't know how to put it, the emotional sensors of fear, joy, frustration—connect, and that's where you go. And the human being has unlimited capacity. It's an unstoppable machine, in the sense that if you push it, it responds. That's what I've done. In the end, it'll come out the same, right? But... that's what these clinics are for.
And after all these years, what do you consider to have been your toughest moment?
Harder?
Yes, in the world of football.
Well, I don't know, because of course, if you relate it to wins or losses, it's very simplistic, I'd say. Yes, there are always disappointments. In the end, I'll finish my career and they'll say, well, he won 39 titles, 40. Ah, very good. Okay, right? It's very good. The relationships with the people you've worked with, players, staff... That's the cool thing you have left, it's what you take with you. And there are incredible moments and there are also bad moments. Because I make decisions, people don't understand, and sometimes I make mistakes, of course. These are the most, let's say, complicated moments, not because you win or lose.
And before you gave me a hint, you told me as long as your head holds out, but since we're in a longevity clinic and some coaches have practically left with their boots on, how old do you see yourself coaching until?
I don't know. The truth is, I don't know, but I don't think I'm... I don't know, because you can also have large work groups that help you with certain things. I know that after this stage with City I'm going to stop, that's for sure, it's decided, more than decided. I don't know how long I'll stop for, a year, two years, three years, five, ten, fifteen, I don't know. But I'm going to stop after this stage with City, because I need to stop and focus on myself, on my body, on... In Catalan, they say badar. Badar, badar, badar... I want to do this, simply stop and watch the cows go by when the train goes by. My grandfather used to say, you look at me like cows watch the train go by. Well, that's it, you have to stop and watch it go by. And then life... I had never thought that I would coach, that I would go to Germany to coach, to England, and be the coach of Barcelona, or that I would play for Barcelona. We think we're in control, but no, something's bound to happen that'll put something in front of me, and I'll say: Oh, do I want to do this or not? And if not, well, I'll figure it out. And I think my plan now is this: stop, stop... And then we'll see.