Manchester City's new documentary, The Beautiful Obsession, is set to premiere on Prime Video this Wednesday. As revealed by The Athletic, the four-part documentary series lifts the lid on behind-the-scenes stories from Pep Guardiola's final two seasons at Manchester City, including his dressing room announcement of his divorce, a heated confrontation with Kyle Walker, a furious shouting match with Erling Haaland, and boardroom frustration over his squad rotation decisions.
The Impact of Divorce on Guardiola
Across the first and second episodes, Guardiola's separation from his wife is frequently mentioned within the dressing room, along with the inevitable toll it took on him. In episode two, Guardiola's trusted right-hand man, Manel Estiarte, reveals that he once told the players to go easy on their manager.
"I never go into the dressing room to speak to the players—only once," he said. “They were worried because Pep was tense, sad, different, and only I knew why. I told the team: 'What you are seeing is a human being who is going through a divorce.'”
Guardiola himself broke the news to the squad after their defeat to Juventus—the seventh loss in a ten-match slump during the 2024–25 season—breaking down in tears in front of his players: “Guys, I want to confess something. I am getting divorced from the most beautiful woman on this planet, my wife, my ex-wife. I love her so much, but we lost the passion. Do I love her? Yes, absolutely. Does she love me? Yes, but we lost the passion.”
Clash with Kyle Walker
Episode one features a heated confrontation between Guardiola and Kyle Walker inside the Anfield dressing room. Guardiola was going through individual players who should have done better at specific moments, calling out Walker for losing possession.
Walker hit back: “You mention my name in every meeting and with everything. In every single meeting, it's my name.”
Guardiola responded: “Maybe because you are the captain.”
"You don't want me to be the captain," Walker replied. “I reacted to someone else, I lost the ball, and somehow you bring my name into it again.”
With tears in his eyes, Guardiola then laid bare his thoughts to the team—about two weeks before he told them about his divorce following the match in Turin: “This is my failure. If I am the problem, you must tell me. I won't stay just for money or just to be here; I don't want to feel like I have to run away from you. If I am the problem, tell me. It won't change my love for you, not for a single second.”
Outburst After the Leverkusen Defeat
Throughout the series, clips depict how Guardiola tortures himself. Following a Champions League league-phase defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, he explained that he did not want to eat, drink, or sleep.
In another scene, Estiarte and Lijnders explain how much the manager blamed himself for leaving players out, following last season's 0-2 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen, in which he fielded a heavily rotated lineup.
"Maybe I should apologize for making 10 changes," he told the team. “It's impossible to play football without courage, but come on, guys. Everyone has to show, 'I am the best, and I'm going to prove to this asshole manager that I'm better than anyone else.'”
“I feel stupid. I arrive here at 8 AM, stay for hours trying to find something that touches your hearts. I want to convey that I love my job, I want to transmit that to you, and you give nothing back, guys. Do you know what's going to happen? You are going to have another manager.”
Dressing-Down of Haaland
In episode three, Guardiola lashes out at Erling Haaland at half-time during the FA Cup final.
"Are you tired?" he shouted. Haaland said no. “Why aren't you fighting in a final the way you fought against Saliba and the others? If you're tired, tell me now. I put six players on the bench. I feel ashamed to leave six players on the bench. Where is your quality? The runs in behind? The box? Go!”
“I love you anyway, Erling, like a father, I love you no matter what. But this is not about that. Nothing else. Show me you want to win.”
Before and After His Departure
Guardiola had originally planned to hold a press conference to announce his departure, but Ferran Soriano told him that external media should not receive the news first.
The final episode reveals that he only informed the players of his departure two days before the final match of the season. Even after the penultimate game—when rumors had already leaked and Manchester City drew with Bournemouth to hand the title to Arsenal—he did not disclose anything.
"Don't ask me the reasons for leaving," he said in a video played to the team. “There is no reason, but deep down I know it is time.”
A few weeks after the season ended, he was interviewed in Barcelona. "Winning gives you the chance to extend contracts, it gives you work, but it is not the finished product of your happiness," he told the series director, Kevin Macdonald.
