The China Mail - Pick of Pep Guardiola's quotes during his time at Manchester City

AFP Sport picks out some of of the 55-year-old's best remarks from his decade-long stay in northwest England:

Best of times

"What a time we have had together!" -- Guardiola announces his departure in a club statement

Not the special one

"It doesn't mean my footballing ideas are special, different, better than the others. I am not saying it's my football, my ideas, and the other coaches are nothing. It's the way I believe. I'm not special." -- Guardiola in an interview with Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry in December 2016

No room for prima donnas

"I don't like it when a player says, 'I like freedom; I want to play for myself.' Because the player has to understand he is part of a team with 10 other players. If everyone wants to be a jazz musician, it will be chaos. They will not be a team, and nothing will be possible." -- Guardiola in 2017

Prove myself in England

"I proved myself in Barcelona, and after I proved myself in Germany, I wanted to prove myself in England." -- Guardiola addresses thousands of City fans on his arrival at the Etihad Stadium in July 2016... 20 trophies later he has kept his word

Klopp's heavy metal chimes

"When Klopp speaks about his football being heavy metal, I understand completely. It is so aggressive. For the fans, it is really good." -- Guardiola in 2016 on then Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, with whom he forged a huge rivalry

Terror strikes his family

"We tried to call her again and it didn't work. We went to the arena. After five or six minutes she called me again and said, 'We are out, we are out.' At the end we were lucky. Unfortunately (there were many) people who suffered." -- Guardiola recalls how his wife and daughters were at the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester in May 2017 when a suicide bomber struck causing 22 deaths

An Oasis of defiance....

"I love this song, you cannot imagine how much. It is incredible. It puts me in the best of myself when I listen -- it's a masterpiece. Every time we go out, we always sing this song together. I love it." -- Guardiola speaking in 2018 about Manchester City fans Oasis's iconic song "Don't Look Back In Anger", which Noel Gallagher labelled an "anthem of defiance" following the terror attack at the Ariana Grande concert

B.Carter--ThChM