Thierry Henry has claimed that Pep Guardiola is ‘not mentally well’ amid his split from wife Cristina Serra and Manchester City’s challenging season.
City suffered a 5-1 shellacking at the hands of Arsenal on Sunday, piling more misery on a season which leaves them fifth and 15 points off league leaders Liverpool.
For Guardiola, it has been a stressful and difficult few months on and off the pitch.
That bombshell followed a worrying episode in November when Guardiola emerged with scratches on his face after City’s 3-3 Champions League draw with Feyenoord. ‘I cut myself with my fingernail (during the game),’ he said. ‘I want to hurt myself.’
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry went through a divorce shortly after joining Barcelona in 2007 and sympathises with Guardiola.
Thierry Henry has claiemd that pep Guardiola is ‘not mentally well’ amid a challenging year
In January reports emerged that Guardiola had split from his wife Cristina Serra after his contract renewal
Henry sympathises after he endured a divorce from wife Claire Merry after joining Barcelona
‘Do I feel sorry about what’s happening to Man City and Pep? Yeah I do, in one thing,’ Henry told Sky Sports.
‘It’s not easy to deal with what Pep has to deal with outside of football. I went through that when I went to Barcelona. It’s not easy to deal with stuff like that, when you’re not well mentally.
‘You can see that he’s not his usual self. I had to deal with it when I went to Barcelona, I can tell you it’s not easy. No one would like to deal with that while you have to perform all the time. So I think we can understand.
‘Now if you go back on the field, it’s not good enough. I don’t think that they can cope whenever a team can deal with playing them all the way to ninety minutes and challenge them and look them in their eyes all the way.’
Guardiola, 53, and Serra married in an intimate ceremony on the outskirts of Barcelona in 2014 but have now decided to part ways.
The couple, who met in 1994, had been living apart for more than five years after Serra moved back to Barcelona with one of their three daughters, Valentina, 17, while Guardiola remained in Manchester.
They have two other children together: Maria, 24 and Marius, 22.
Guardiola and Serra had remained a couple despite not living in the same city and have regularly been pictured together in the years since.
Guardiola had a cut on his nose and scratches on his head after City threw away a 3-0 lead against Feyenoord earlier this season
Serra, who had been with Guardiola for 30 years, has been living away from her husband
He and Serra embraced on the pitch after City won the Champions League in June 2023
Guardiola’s new contract is said to be the main reason behind their shock separation
Lorena Vazquez and fellow Spanish journalist Laura Fa, who make up a duo of well-respected showbiz reporters called the Mamarazzis, broke the story of the couple’s split in mid-January.
Days later they claimed in a Podcast that fashion entrepreneur Cristina had decided ‘enough was enough’ after learning Pep had U-turned on a decision to quit Britain and was going to stay at City until 2027.
Guardiola recently signed a new contract to stay at the club for an extra two years, with his initial contract expiring at the end of this season.
Henry offered his sympathy having gone through a similar experience.
In 2007, almost at the peak of his powers, Henry joined winning machine Barcelona.
Having been married to Claire Merry since 2003, all seemed rosy with the couple, who had purchased a home in London and had a two-year-old daughter.
Things, however, were not. In September 2007 a divorce court judge in London granted the divorce, with Merry arguing Henry’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’ was the reason.
The Frenchman didn’t contest the grounds, and the divorce was granted as part of a batch during a one-minute hearing at the High Court’s Principal Registry.
Having met when Henry and Merry starred in a TV advert for Renault, model Merry was awarded close to her requested sum of £10millon in 2008, with Henry said to be on around £130,000-a-week in Spain.
