Rafa Nadal visited the facilities of the Manchester City and I chatted for a while with Pep Guardiola. Before heading to Liverpool to watch his team Real Madrid at Anfield, the Balearic tennis player stopped at the English team’s sports city, located next to the Etihad Stadium, where he was able to chat with the coach and greet some City players.
During this Friday’s press conference, the coach of the current Premier League champion was asked about the visit of the best Spanish athlete of all time to his facilities. At the hearing, one of the journalists asked him if he could still find ways to using people like Nadal to teach his team new thingsto which Sampedor replied with a laugh: “It would be good. Best of all, it was so easy to do. “It was a pleasure meeting you,” he added.
Pep explained that Nadal he stopped there before going to Anfield see Real Madrid and defined him as “one of the most incredible athletes of the time.” “I know he’s a Real Madrid fan and he came here to go to Anfield to watch Liverpool-Real Madrid in the Champions League, but before that, since his uncle and I were teammates at Barcelona… It was a pleasure to see him. He is one of the most incredible athletes of our time“.
Regarding the content of the interview he had with Nadal, Guardiola commented: “We talk about sportshow difficult it is to stay for so many years, like Federer or Djokovic did for many years. Eventually he dropped out due to injuries, otherwise he would be here. He said an incredible sentence: “I love playing, I want to play tennis, but my body says enough is enough.”
“In a football career, tennis is a sport that you want, but the body says that it is enough. He wanted it desperately, he loves tennis, he wants to do it. Sometimes human beings have a limit and it’s a sport in which he found himself exhausted after many matches and the same thing happens here in football,” concluded the Manchester City coach.
Nadal’s express visit
A week after my retirement, Rafa Nadal He takes the opportunity to go to Liverpool and attend the match of the day. His travel plan was to make a quick visit to Manchester City to greet Guardiola who was left with scratches on his face after the draw against Feyenoord. His team started winning 3-0, but the Dutch eventually equalized to score a point.
The relationship between Guardiola and the Nadal family comes from far away. As Pep himself told the press room, Rafa’s uncle Miguel Ángel shared a dressing room with the current Manchester City manager during his time at Barcelona. They were both great friends. Now, the former tennis player took advantage of his trip to England to greet the Spanish coach. During this, they met some of the members of the Premier champion, such as Haaland, Grealish and Bernardo Silva. His uncle and brother were also part of the expedition.
