Pep Guardiola has spoken of his decision to leave Barcelona, confirming the pressure of expectation became too much.

In an interview quoted by Super Deportes, Guardiola has repeated what he previously revealed - that he felt he could no longer motivate the Barca squad.

Guardiola added that the realisation came when Barca were beaten by Chelsea in the Champions League.

“There were many moments of sadness and that was one of them,” Guardiola told Autopista magazine.

“We were much better than our opponents but we conceded an unnecessary goal and before we knew it, we were out.

“It was a great loss to me. I thought I couldn’t go back and set up the team again.

“If you can no longer motivate the players, as a Coach, you know that the time has come to leave.”

The former midfielder went on to say that the success Barca enjoyed in his tenure eventually pushed him out the door.

“We were incredibly successful - 14 trophies in four years. But that can also weigh you down.

“I was having difficulty motivating myself as well as the team, having won everything as a player and a Coach. And the team was finding it increasingly difficult.

“The sabbatical year in New York was important to me, my family and to my old team.”

Guardiola also acknowledged that the first approach from Bayern Munich came long before he left Barca, in July 2011.

“In the Audi Cup I spoke to Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness about my future.

“The challenge for me now is to work with a new team and continue the success of Jupp Heynckes.”

Bayern Munich Coach Pep Guardiola says there was a big fuss around Camp Nou every time he left Lionel Messi out of his starting line-up.

The former Barcelona boss also answered questions about his lowest moments during his time in charge of the Catalan giants.

“With a lot of stars in the line-up, like we have now at Bayern Munich or at my previous team Barcelona, you can encounter situations in which having so many can be destructive,” Guardiola told Autopista.es.

“Everyone wants to play, but you can only put 11 players out on the pitch at any one time.

“Every time I left Messi on the bench there was a fuss.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Tbf Fergie only won 2 CLs which is the same as what Pep won.

Not saying Fergie doesn't deserve great credit but the dangling carrot was almost always there.

Yohan Modric wrote:Mourinho would have played negative, but he would have still been more successful. Problem is Moyes has no experience of managing a top club. He was appointed for the long term as I said before, which means Man Utd will be hoping he improves within the next few seasons.

The_Badger wrote:

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:Tbf Fergie only won 2 CLs which is the same as what Pep won.

Not saying Fergie doesn't deserve great credit but the dangling carrot was almost always there.

Fergie knew when the time was right to let certain stars leave and when to build a new team around others.

He managed to motivate them after the historic treble in 1999 as that is what the truly great managers do.

I'm convinced there was more to Pep leaving Barca then simply being a case of not being up to the task of motivating his team to further success, and I suspect Rosell is behind it.