{"id":35932,"date":"2026-06-10T22:56:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/the-mystery-behind-josep-guardiola-talking-to-an-empty-chair-has-been-solved\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T22:56:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T22:56:36","slug":"the-mystery-behind-josep-guardiola-talking-to-an-empty-chair-has-been-solved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/the-mystery-behind-josep-guardiola-talking-to-an-empty-chair-has-been-solved\/","title":{"rendered":"The mystery behind Josep Guardiola talking to an &#8217;empty chair&#8217; has been solved"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\">One of Josep Guardiola&#8217;s most interesting mysteries has finally been solved, but many football fans probably wish it had been left alone.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">The famous footage of Manchester City losing to Arsenal in the 2020 FA Cup semi-finals has long appeared, showing Guardiola intently explaining tactics to an empty chair. The image was perfect.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"ue-c-article__media ue-c-article__media--video  video-player\"><figcaption class=\"ue-c-article__media-caption\" itemprop=\"description\">\n<p><span class=\"ue-c-article__media-description\">Josep Guardiola bids emotional farewell after 10 years at Manchester City<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">Guardiola was engrossed in conversation, gesticulating and talking with all his might like a man trying to solve a football problem, but the seat next to him seemed completely empty.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">For years, fans have joked that he wasn&#8217;t talking to anyone, or that he was talking to himself or even the ghost of Mikel Arteta. Now the FA has released extensive footage showing the truth.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">Guardiola wasn&#8217;t speaking to an empty chair at all. He was speaking to his assistants Rodolfo Borrell and Juanma Lillo, who were seated far apart due to social distancing rules.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">FA ruins classic Guardiola meme<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">The explanation makes perfect sense, but that&#8217;s exactly why some fans were disappointed.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">The original clip was funny because it looked so absurd. Guardiola seemed to be so keen tactically that he even started a full conversation with the chair.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">A wider angle removes the mystery and shows more normal scenes from a pandemic-era soccer match.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">City were playing Arsenal at Wembley and Arteta was in the early stages of his managerial career after leaving Guardiola&#8217;s staff.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">Arsenal won the match 2-0, but the later joke that Guardiola did not appear to discuss tactics with anyone while being knocked out by his former assistant grew even louder.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">Fans hoped the mystery would survive<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">The reaction to the FA footage was almost as entertaining as the original footage.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">Supporters joked that the governing body had ruined one of the best videos in football by not properly explaining it.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">That&#8217;s the problem with solving a good soccer meme. The truth may be accurate, but it&#8217;s rarely as entertaining as the version fans have already constructed in their heads.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">The clip was by no means embarrassing for Guardiola. Rather, it summed up how completely absorbed he could be during a match.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Links P\u00e1rrafos\" class=\"ue-c-article__paragraph paragraph\">But for others, the empty chair version was better. Now the mystery is gone, and all fans are left with is the unfortunate truth that Guardiola was only talking to his staff about tactics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/premier-league\/2026\/05\/27\/the-mystery-of-when-pep-guardiola-was-talking-to-an-empty-chair-has-been-solved.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of Josep Guardiola&#8217;s most interesting mysteries has finally been solved, but many football fans probably wish it had been left alone. The famous footage of Manchester City losing to Arsenal in the 2020 FA Cup semi-finals has long appeared, showing Guardiola intently explaining tactics to an empty chair. The image was perfect. Josep Guardiola<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-35932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The mystery behind Josep Guardiola talking to an &#039;empty chair&#039; has been solved - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/10\/the-mystery-behind-josep-guardiola-talking-to-an-empty-chair-has-been-solved\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The mystery behind Josep Guardiola talking to an &#039;empty chair&#039; has been solved - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of Josep Guardiola&#8217;s most interesting mysteries has finally been solved, but many football fans probably wish it had been left alone. 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