Guardiola needs something to keep his fires burning at City

Without the epic title races with Liverpool it would have been a procession - Guardiola soon got bored of that at Bayern - TYRONE MARSHALL

- TYRONE MARSHALL

THINGS will feel a little bit different for Pep Guardiola next season.

While the Catalan will head into his ninth season in charge of City assessing his own levels of energy and motivation to stay in the job, a rival that has defined his era at the Etihad will be relaxing in the Majorcan sun.

Guardiola getting emotional when discussing the departure of Jurgen Klopp was the twist nobody saw coming on Sunday, but he choked back tears as he talked about their relationship and the standards they have set during their eight years together in the Premier League.

Klopp felt his energy reserves were starting to run low when he announced his decision to Liverpool and the German wants to try out a normal life. Guardiola had a bit of that in his sabbatical in New York after leaving Barcelona but he is so obsessed by the game it's difficult to see him staying away for too long, whenever he does leave City.

That almost certainly won't be this summer, but it could be after nine years in 2025. Then again, doing a decade in charge sounds pretty good. It's also almost impossible to predict the state of the play at the club at that point given the Premier League charges that hang over them.