Apart from making Manchester City an unplayable team, Pep Guardiola is also quite a lively character behind those high-octane team talks and match day preparations.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has carved his way to deal with the media. He teases and plays with them, making them beg for a straightforward answer, but Pep always finds a way out with his layered words and sarcastic comments.
It’s no surprise that Pep Guardiola’s press conferences are a delight to watch and the fans adore him for his bizarre ways.
Only this time, the Pep faithful have paid homage to their hero.
Manchester City won their third Premier League title in four seasons back in 2021. The spirits were high, and the players and the management staff were on cloud nine after winning yet another title.
During these celebrations, Pep was dancing and singing with his peers when suddenly he pulled out a cigar and lit it.
This moment was snapped on a live stream and since then, the image of Pep smoking the cigar has been used as a symbol of victory whenever he outclasses an opponent.
The same image was then plastered on a huge banner by the Man City fan group 1894 and gets unfurled on a regular basis at the Etihad Stadium nowadays.
It has that iconic Guardiola look of sucking on the cigar while looking dead straight at the camera or the person before you.
Although there have been many banners in the past that have caught the attention of the fans like Liverpool’s European Royalty flag which displays the trophies won by the clubs but Guardiola smoking a cigar surely demands more eyeballs.
The banner captures the essence of Guardiola’s suaveness and embodies a winning vibe that Man City is now so accustomed to. But one needs to know what Guardiola thinks of it.
Surely City should have more of Guardiola smoking cigar banners at Etihad Stadium during their home games. There should never be a shortage of cool banners, especially where your manager smokes cigars and looks like he means business.
