Over the years, Pep Guardiola’s reputation as one of the greatest football managers of all time has been built on his tactical genius, of which there are few – if any – parallels in the football world. The likes of Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp or Diego Simeone are the managers known to wear their heart on their sleeve, leaving Pep’s successes largely attributed to an excellent but almost mechanical, or robotic, tactical understanding of the beautiful game. It is here where Amazon’s new documentary – ‘Pep Guardiola: A Beautiful Obsession’ – works as a terrific myth-buster.
Over a four-episode series, Guardiola comes across as exactly one of those managers for whom players would run through brick walls, in addition to being arguably football’s greatest-ever tactical mind. What makes the feeling even more remarkable is that the two seasons portrayed were arguably the two least successful ones of Guardiola’s managerial career.
It’s a welcome shift in narrative. Guardiola’s various emotions are on show in the rawest sense possible, as his Manchester City side handles obstacles previously foreign.
Guardiola led Manchester City to six Premier League titles, including four in a row, along with a historic European treble and a centurion season, turning the world’s biggest league into a near-formality every year. But as his kingdom disintegrated over the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, the documentary manages to depict the human side and the vulnerabilities of one of football’s greatest winners.
The most hard-hitting scene comes in the first episode, where Guardiola tries to motivate his side with a striking anecdote of his own personal divorce.
“Guys, I want to confess something. I’m divorced from the most beautiful woman on this planet – my wife… my ex-wife. I love her unbelievably, but we lost the passion.
“How do you play football? Where is the passion? I don’t want good players, I want players with passion!” Guardiola says, amidst a season in which City went on an unprecedented run of losing nine out of 12 games.
The scene is seemingly shown from between the feet of a player, as the documentary succeeds in making you feel that you’re eavesdropping on a deeply personal moment. It is one of several bits of the production that makes the documentary stand out. The background music is on point too.
From his demand for passion to his disappointment of being let down by his players, to the anger of the board and the advice of those close to him, Pep Guardiola’s farewell season is scripted beautifully in the documentary, although it may not have seemed perfect on the football pitch.
Legendary English musician Noel Gallagher of the Oasis appears time and again in the documentary, providing a unique angle to the narrative. His quote at the end of Episode 2 is particularly poignant, in a brilliant comparison to the downfall of Pep’s empire.
“You’re the greatest songwriter in the world. At one point, every single thing you write becomes part of the furniture. And then all of a sudden, you can’t write for s**t anymore. You don’t know why, you’re not doing anything different. You have your time, and then the world moves on.”
As the documentary progresses, the importance of interpersonal relations to Guardiola becomes clear, be it from his frustration at club captain Kyle Walker deciding to leave midway through a tough season, or his decision to emphasise the farewells of club legends Bernardo Silva and John Stones over his own.
It’s a side of Guardiola’s that has been sparsely shown to fans over the years, but comes across in a very unfiltered way in the documentary. It makes the great manager even more endearing, and the final episode would certainly be an emotional watch for City supporters.
Given this, there builds an intrigue to see the behind-the-scenes of some crucial moments of Guardiola’s final year. The raw emotions after a devastating 3-0 loss to Real Madrid in the Champions League are not shown. And while Pep’s deep care for his players is evident, the opposite – particularly how they celebrated him on his farewell – is also missing to a large degree.
Nevertheless, in a summer where Guardiola’s great rival Jose Mourinho’s new documentary has turned heads and stirred debate, the insight into Pep’s beautiful obsession remains a must-watch for football lovers.
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