'Manager's career in ruins': Pep provoked by Rooney, mocked with 'crossing the line' voice message: "You lost to me"... "I was furious the moment I heard it," he revealed

*This content was translated by AI.

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney (41) revealed an incident in which he was provoked by Pep Guardiola (55), then manager of Manchester City, during the early days of his coaching career.

The UK's 'The Sun' reported on the 17th (Korean time) that "Rooney recently appeared on a broadcast and disclosed the content of voice messages exchanged with Guardiola when he was manager of Derby County, confessing that he was truly furious at the time."

According to the report, Rooney called Guardiola in 2021 while serving as manager of Derby County to try to sign striker Liam Delap on loan. The call did not connect, and the messages went back and forth, but the voice message Guardiola left on Rooney's voicemail became the source of the conflict.

In the voice message, Guardiola provoked Rooney by saying, "Hello Wayne, it's Pep. I'm the one who beat you in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) final."

Rooney, appearing as a panelist on the BBC broadcast of the England Football Association (FA) Cup final between Manchester City and Chelsea on the 17th, recalled the memory and laughed, saying, "I felt my blood boil the moment I heard the message."

The match Guardiola referred to was the 2011 UCL final held at Wembley Stadium between Manchester United and Barcelona. At the time, Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3-1 with consecutive goals from Pedro, Lionel Messi, and David Villa. Rooney scored an equalizer and fought hard, but Manchester United, led by manager Alex Ferguson, could not overcome Guardiola's Barcelona.

After that, Rooney began his coaching career in 2020 as a player-coach at Derby County, and the following year he was appointed as the official manager, retiring from his playing career. In his first season, he saved the team from relegation, but when the club entered legal receivership and received a points deduction leading to relegation, he resigned.

His subsequent managerial journey was not smooth. He held the reins at Major League Soccer's DC United for 15 months but left the team after failing to reach the playoffs for two consecutive years. In October 2023, he was appointed manager of Birmingham City in the English Championship (second division), but was dismissed after just three months with only two wins in 15 matches. He then attempted a comeback as manager of Plymouth Argyle in May 2024, but after leading the team to the bottom of the table, he mutually terminated his contract on December 31 of that year.

Currently, Rooney is active as a football commentator and panelist on BBC, TNT Sports, and Amazon Prime Video. Recently, he has continued his active broadcasting activities, including conducting an interview with Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes on his own talk show.

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*This content was translated by AI.