I have known Pep Guardiola for 15 years - this is when he will leave Man City

Manchester City are a few hours away from taking on Real Madrid in the semi-final of the Champions League when Marti Perarnau’s phone pings.

The journalist sees the message flash up but can’t quite believe it. It's not that it's unusual for Pep Guardiola to be contacting him - the two speak regularly - but it is far less normal for him to be doing it around any game let alone a game of this magnitude.

That, Perarnau believes, is the biggest change that he has seen in a man who he has now written three books about over the course of his career. From Pep Confidential exploring Guardiola's first year at Bayern Munich, there is now The Pep Revolution detailing seven years at Manchester City.

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Guardiola's ferocious work ethic remains but he has mellowed and learned to let go of the intensity at times in order to avoid him burning out. The City manager's stomach may still be so full of nerves on a matchday that it doesn't appreciate much food, but the man himself now knows that he doesn't have to push himself or every player to the edge all the time.

"I think it's the main change of Pep," Perarnau tells the Manchester Evening News. "More than tactical or other questions, I think the most important change is he's relaxed to the way of competing and also during the matches.

"During the Community Shield at Wembley, in the worst moments of the match he was relatively relaxed. He learned from the experience of his years at Barcelona and Bayern.

"He started thinking that he needed to push the players until the edge and after years he understood that some players don't