City’s former manager is set to make his comeback to the club this evening when they face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, but he will only be spectating in the stands, rather than in the dugout.
The Spaniard left the club after a decade at the helm that included six Premier League titles, a maiden European crown, three FA Cups and five League Cups.
He was replaced in the hotseat by his former assistant Enzo Maresca, who had been sounded out in the middle of last season, which in turn resulted in his departure from Chelsea in January.
Now, Guardiola will return to the Etihad Stadium, where City have confirmed there will be a “mosaic display” in the newly-named Pep Guardiola Stand.
Comeback: Pep Guardiola
AFP/Getty
According to the club’s website, there will also be a “pre-match lightshow and pyrotechnics” ahead of kick-off, as the Premier League outfit take on the Champions League holders.
City returned to league action over the weekend with an emphatic 3-0 win over Liverpool, who were reduced to ten men after Ryan Gravenberch’s controversial sending off at Anfield.
Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Rayan Cherki all got on the scoresheet as Maresca’s men continued their perfect start to the campaign and the Italian’s tenure.
City will be playing at home for the first time since an independent commission issued them a guilty verdict on 114 of their 115 charges for financial breaches.
City fans took inflatable bananas with them to Merseyside in response, while the visiting players were booed heavily by the Liverpudlian crowd.