HIS interrogators came from all over the globe - from Marca to BBC Radio Manchester via the New York Times - but there was still a Spanish inquisition of sorts for Pep Guardiola to face at Manchester City's plush Etihad Academy training centre yesterday.
Forget about tonight's Champions League dead rubber against Celtic. But was the entire Pep project, so bright and shiny as City brought a perfect record in all competitions to Glasgow in September, suddenly creaking under the strain?
Not only had City crumbled against title rivals Chelsea in front of their own spectators on Saturday - they have now lost as many games (four) as they had won in their last 13 matches - they combusted in rather spectacular fashion. With main striker Sergio Aguero now suspended until Hogmanay at the earliest after the kind of tackle on David Luiz which wouldn't have been out of place at an Ultimate Fighting contest and Fernandinho, who was suspended for tonight's game anyway, also accruing a three-match domestic ban, there were suspicions that City might just be coming apart at the seams.
Where had all this latent fury - which had harvested six red cards already this season - come from? Was there a reservoir of angst beneath Pep's placid exterior all along and why hadn't he shaken the hand of Cesc Fabregas, who had slyly instigated some of Saturday's injury time fuss? Yes, he might be one of the best-paid managers in the world and working with some of the best players in the world, but was he really happy?
Guardiola faced all this mood music with as much calmness as he could muster, even if he occasionally got a tad grumpy. For the record, he hadn't noticed Fabregas on the pitch and had caught up with him in the tunnel afterwards, while one man who asked why he hadn't seen such antics from his players before this season was dismissed with a shake of the head from this born winner and a reminder that he had only been in England a 'short time'.
“I am enjoying it a lot," said Guardiola. "Yes, I am. Of course I am happier when I win and I am not happy when I lose. But I am enjoying working with the guys and where I am working. I am trying to do my best but I am satisfied so far.
“Who was responsible for what happened at the end?" he asked. "The players. Was it the fans? Me? You? No. The players. They were responsible. It happens in football, whether it’s the Premier League, Champions League or any competition. We may have six red cards but we have the best possession stats in the league. Let’s talk about that."
If he had wanted a quiet comfortable life he could quite happily have stayed at the Camp Nou, where he is in with the bricks. "I came here to prove myself," said Guardiola. "I was in Germany because I was quite good at Barcelona. I am here because I was quite good in Germany. But I have to adapt - I must adapt - and I will adapt."
Anyway, as diverting as all this stuff was, it is the ramifications of it for tonight's Group C match at the Etihad which Celtic fans really want to know about, even if the final order in the table is already fixed, with only the small matter of £500,000 in Uefa prize money and some bragging rights after September's 3-3 draw in Glasgow up for grabs.
Guardiola said he hadn't decided whether to allow Aguero to take his frustrations out on Celtic but it would be a surprise if the Argentinian didn't feature, perhaps in tandem with enterprising youngster Kelechi Iheanacho. Towering goalkeeper Willy Caballero also addressed the media, a sure signal that he will start ahead of Claudio Bravo between the sticks, just as he did against Barcelona.
The bit part players in Guardiola's squad crave the chance to make an impact and the bad news for Celtic is that Caballero is convinced there will be no drop off in their motivation, rather an imperative to right some wrongs. "Just to hear the sound of the Champions League anthem is a big motivation for every player," said Caballero. "It is the most important competition in the world.
"I don't know how Celtic thinks about the game or how their manager tries to prepare for the game but I know my team-mates and I know my boss," he added. "We are going to try from the first minute to win this game. We lost at home so we need to recover our sensation of being a winning team and the only way to do that is to win."
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