“We have no evidence that Guardiola lost his temper at any time”

The image of the technician Manchester City, Pep Guardiolawith a shaved head full of scratches after his team tied a game they won 3-0, became the subject of comments, some of them curious, like the coach himself: “In his fingers, his nails …I want to hurt myself.” No one is worried. Everything seems to indicate that this is “a certain stage that reflects the level of anxiety and tension that he experiences in the game, the behavior of a person who experiences an intense situation and cannot control the frustration at that moment, ” he. comments to EFE Enric Armengou, professor of psychiatry at Abat CEU University of Barcelona.

There is no favorable wind blowing for City, European champions in 2023. After five consecutive defeats, the celestial team let the victory slip away despite the fact that in the 74th minute they beat Feyenoord 3-0 at the Etihad, in the match on the fifth matchday of the Champions League. Painful draw physically visible in the head of the Catalan coach. He appeared at the press conference with a scratched head, which piqued the curiosity of the journalists in the press room.

“Two aspects must be distinguished, whether it is a specific and specific phase or a trend. At a certain moment you can cause self-harm, like a person who is nervous and bites their nails, but hurts themselves , although it is superficial, it is more serious, what happened to Guardiola speaks about the level of anxiety that he has, but it is a specific event in moments of maximum tension,” explained the Professor Armengou. According to the specialist, the “citizen” coach should better control failures. “His behavior is like someone who is at his limit and controls himself by hurting himself. Others might throw their notebook on the bank or kick a bottle.”

Armengou emphasized that “we should not give greater importance to the matter because it is a moment of anger, which has no signs, due to known antecedents, that it is a trend, so it should not be a problem. “

A compliment for Pep’s sensitivity

The university professor distanced the scene starring Guardiola from the self-harming tendencies that, for example, are seen in young people. “Currently, in psychiatry consultations, we see young people controlling frustration and anxiety with self-harm. The problem is that this is a well-known and sought-after resource that causes major psychological problems. In addition, hurting they put themselves in places that cannot be seen to Ignore the injuries what happened to Guardiola was handled in an inappropriate way,” he explained.

Enric Armengou appreciated the fact that Guardiola made it clear after the press conference that he did not want to “downplay the importance of mental health problems that affect many people.” “You can’t blame him for a lack of sensitivity to these kinds of problems, he expressed himself ironically” when he said that he wanted to “do damage” to his fingers and nails.” He knows how to fix and show his face, admitted a furious gesture”.

Armengou also dismissed it as a self-control problem. “I think we can’t talk about a problem of that type. It would be excessive, otherwise we would see him with that behavior in other areas. He is a man who lives the games with intensity, but we have no evidence that his lost his temper.