'Family' - Julia Roberts' Manchester United admission will hurt Pep Guardiola all over again

It's a movie synopsis - the superstar actress, the love of her life and the jealous onlooker.

And while Julia Roberts wouldn't look out of place next to the tagline, Pep Guardiola and Manchester United filling the other roles would merit a double take. Yet that is where we find ourselves amid the latest twist to a rather peculiar tale.

Manchester City boss Guardiola made headlines last season when he pronounced himself a failure because Roberts had pinned her colours to the United mast rather than the blue moon. Speaking in March, Guardiola said: "Julia Roberts came to England a few years ago in the period when Manchester United were not good, we were better, and she came to Manchester United, she didn’t come to us. Even if I win the Champions League, it cannot make up for Julia Roberts not coming to see us.”

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If that was bad, things have got worse for Pep. Roberts was watching on from the stands as Erik ten Hag's side beat Arsenal 2-0 in their New York friendly on Saturday night and after the game she reaffirmed her Old Trafford affinity and a place in the United family as the storyline of the actress, the manager and the football club maintains its bizarre narrative arc.

"I love that you are considering us part of the family, that makes us all feel really, really good," said the American actress in a short interview with Manchester United's in-house media team. "It is such a great moment for sports with the Women's World Cup happening right now and America doing so well which is exciting.

"We just had Wimbledon which was great and the Tour de France. It is really a great moment to celebrate this kind of community because it is