Pep Guardiola may be hell bent on winning a first Champions League with Man City this season, but in the meantime he's already ticked off another career goal.
The Spanish boss has never been shy to be theatrical in his technical area, with his tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve all too apparent on Wednesday night. His City side, already crowned champions of the 2022/23 Premier League, drew 1-1 at Brighton after Erling Haaland's late winner was ruled out by VAR.
Guardiola was booked for his exuberant protests over the decision, at least proving he's not about to rest his laurels with an FA Cup and Champions League final to come. And his status as one of the world's best coaches, not to mention his charismatic ways, have helped him land a first ever TV acting role.
The 52-year-old has made a cameo appearance in the hit US TV show Ted Lasso. The sports-comedy series centres around Lasso, an American college football coach, being thrown into the deep end to manage a fictional English Premier League side, AFC Richmond.
Guardiola makes a brief appearance to shake hands with the notorious Lasso, played by Jason Sudeikis, after a Richmond victory. And it's the American who opens the conversation with: "You're a tough guy to beat, man."
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The ex-Barcelona man replies with: "Don't worry about wins and losses, just help these guys be the best versions of themselves on and off the pitch. This in the end is the most important thing."
Despite voicing that philosophy in front of the TV cameras, it's likely that Guardiola himself will be worrying about wins and losses in his team's final three games of a frenetic campaign. City will finish their league season this Sunday with a game against Brentford, a clash largely academic to both sides.
But that will be followed by a fortnight that could yet define his managerial era at the Etihad. On June 3, Guardiola's team will take on Manchester United in an FA Cup final for the first time.
Seven days later, they'll face Inter Milan in Istanbul in a bid to secure Europe's top prize. And City will hope to conclude their own script with a treble that matches the feat of United in the 1998/99 campaign, a scenario that one day could well be immortalised by the club with a film or TV series of their own.
