Thursday 5 January 2017 23:10, UK
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says he is not contemplating retirement in the near future but does not want to be coaching "at the age of 60".
Guardiola was quoted in an interview with NBC as saying "the process of my goodbye has started" and stated City "might be one of the last teams" that he manages.
Those comments were then preceded by a frosty interview after City's 2-1 win over Burnley, in which the Spaniard gave short answers to all of the questions put to him.
But Guardiola says his comments have perhaps been misinterpreted and that he has no immediate plans to call it a day.
"I said in the interview that I am not going to training when I am 60 years old," he said. "But guys, I am 45. I am not going to retire in two, three years. I love my job and I am in the perfect place to do my job, especially here in England. I want to do something else in my life. I started to play football as a young guy. My career was on the pitch.
"But I want to do something else in my life. But not in the next three, four, five, six, seven years. I said 60-65 I would not go to training. But I am not thinking I am going to retire.
"When I say to compare to the titles and the history of Manchester United, or Liverpool, or Barcelona or Real Madrid - these kinds of clubs - we are behind. If people don't understand then I am sorry.
"In the last four, five years Manchester City is one of the clubs that grows the most in the world. Maybe PSG and Man City is the best in terms of where they were. Man City have become a strong team. But in terms of just the titles, when you have to win the Champions League, we are behind those clubs."
Guardiola also spoke about how there has been a "misunderstanding" about his targets in his first year in English football, stating his priority this season is to "learn and improve".
"Maybe the people were wrong," he said. "Maybe you misunderstand for the people who talk about me, that I came here to change absolutely everything.
"Maybe you are wrong. From the first time I arrive here I said I am here just to learn, improve, and help my team. You create the football, years ago, no?
"So it is going to remain until the end. I came from another country to try to get my team as best as possible to fight the other teams.
"I adapt here. Sometimes the criteria here is completely different. Always my teams in the past, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, were the best teams in the fair play, the lowest in yellow cards and lowest red cards.
"That's why even I am surprised with what happened. I always try to be positive and speak with my players about how we have to play, respect the rules and respect the opponents, the fans who come here, to be positive and try to attack as much as possible."
