Bearded ideologue Pep Guardiola, the chief evangelist of the tiki-taka movement, has thrown his efforts to another mass movement: Catalan independence.
Two days ago, the Catalan president announced an independence vote would take place on October 1, which the Spanish government insists is illegal.
Guardiola has always supported the independence of the region whose autonomy was crushed by Franco during the Civil War, in 1938. In 2006, Catalonia was granted autonomy by the Spanish government and it was passed by public vote, but was subsequently challenged in the High Court. The subsequent fall-out led to renewed calls for independence, and a full secession.
As part of that movement, Guardiola symbolically lent his name to the candidate list for the pro-independence alliance in the 2015 Catalan elections. Other than that, however, Guardiola had largely avoided speaking out about the issue.
Until now.
Yesterday, 30,000 people gathered at the steps of Barcelona’s National Palace in protest at the Spanish government's ruling the referendum unconstitutional. Guardiola was one of those who spoke to them, holding a ballot box in protest.
He then called on Catalans to defy an "authoritarian state" based in Madrid.
We Catalans are victims of a state that is carrying out political persecution unworthy of a democracy in 21st Century Europe.
We are here to say clearly that on October 1 we will decide our future, even though the Spanish state doesn’t want us to.
We appeal to all the democrats of Europe and the world to stand up to the abuses of an authoritarian state.
We don't have another way out: the only possible response is to vote.
The Man City manager went on to claim that the Madrid government were deliberately undermining their movement by blocking infrastructure investment in the region and by destroying the school system.
He spoke in Catalan, Spanish, and English: you can see the English version below.
Pep Guardiola Rally
On a football note: Spanish football authorities have said that Barcelona would not compete in La Liga should Catalonia secede.
