Tennis superstar Rafa Nadal was spotted with his sister in Anfield Road watching the Champions League match between Liverpool and Real Madrid.
Everyone knows that Rafa is a huge fan of Real Madrid, although his uncle Miguel Angel was a Barcelona defender for a long time.
Nadal also visited the City Football Academy in Manchester. The former world No. 1 met Manchester City stars such as Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish, as well as their manager Pep Guardiola.
Manchester City is going through the worst moment of Guardiola’s era and the crisis has been accentuated by the draw against Feyenoord in the Champions League. Guardiola’s team will have a really important match against Liverpool tomorrow, which could already address this edition of the Premier League.
Guardiola spoke about his conversation with Nadal: “Rafa is one of the most incredible athletes of our time. I know he is a Real Madrid fan and came here to go to Anfield to watch the Liverpool-Real Madrid Champions League match, but before that, as his uncle and I were teammates in Barcelona… It was a pleasure to see him. He is one of the most incredible athletes of this era.”
Pep also added: “We talked about sports, about how difficult it is to maintain success for so many years, as Federer and Djokovic have done for many years. In the end, he had to retire due to injuries; otherwise, he would be here. He said an incredible phrase: ‘I love to play, I want to play tennis, but my body says that’s enough.’
In a career as a football player, tennis is a sport you desire, but your body says it’s enough. He wanted it desperately; he loves tennis and wants to play it. Sometimes, the human body has limits, and it’s a sport where he ended up exhausted after many games, and in football, the same happens.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola has pledged to step aside if he fails to turn around Manchester City’s poor run of form.
“I don’t want to stay in the place if I feel like I’m a problem,” said the Spaniard, who watched in obvious frustration as City conceded three times in the last 15 minutes in a dramatic capitulation against Feyenoord in midweek. “I don’t want to stay here just because the contract is there.
“My chairman knows it. I said to him, ‘Give me the chance to try to come back’, especially when everybody comes back (from injury) and see what happens.
“After, if I’m not able to do it, we have to change because, of course, (the past) nine years are dead.
“More than ever I ask my hierarchy, give me the chance.
“Will it be easy for me now? No. I have the feeling that still I have a job to do and I want to do it.”
City have been hampered by a raft of injuries this term, most pertinently to midfield talisman and Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.
The Euro 2024 winner is expected to miss the remainder of the season and his absence has been keenly felt over the past two months.
Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has also not started a match since September.
The pressure continues to build with champions City facing a crucial trip to title rivals and Premier League leaders Liverpool on Sunday.
Defeat would leave City trailing Arne Slot’s side by 11 points.
“I don’t enjoy it at all, I don’t like it,” said Guardiola of his side’s current situation. “I sleep not as good as I slept when I won every game.
“The sound, the smell, the perfume is not good enough right now.
“But I’m the same person who won the four Premier Leagues in a row. I was happier because I ate better, and lived better, but I was not thinking differently from who I am.”
Guardiola is confident his side will not stop battling as they bid to get back on track.
He said: “The people say, ‘Yeah, it’s the end of that’. Maybe, but we are in November. We will see what happens until the end.
“What can you do? Cry for that? You don’t stay long – many, many years without fighting. That is what you try to look for, this is the best (way).
“Why should we not believe? Why should it not happen to us?”
