Guardiola: I have missed the game

Pep Guardiola has admitted that he has missed football in the wake of his decision to take charge of Bayern Munich at the end of this season after a one-year sabbatical.

The Spaniard moved to New York after leaving Barcelona in the summer of 2012 to take a break from football, and even though he has little interest in all that is going on outside the game itself, Guardiola is looking forward to making his comeback.

"I've missed the game itself. All the stuff that surrounds it, not so much. But I have missed [figuring out] the way a certain team plays and how you can beat them, deciding on which players to select to try and win a match," Guardiola told FIFA.com. "For me at least, that’s the only reason I’m in this game. If it wasn’t for that...

"Everything else, well, they’re not things that I have a constant need for. I can live perfectly well without them. In fact I’d say you can have a much better life without them. But the game itself, that’s what draws you in."

The 41-year-old then went on to discuss Barcelona's title chances, and stressed that something special would have to happen for the Catalans to miss out on La Liga success.

"Too many things, far too many things, would have to go wrong for Barcelona to lose this Liga title," he said. "I don’t see it happening, the gap’s virtually insurmountable. Not because Madrid aren’t capable of winning all their games, but because I don’t see Barcelona losing enough matches either.

"It’s too big an ask. The Barcelona players are used to success and they’ve got so many qualities. I think that this La Liga race is pretty much over."

Barcelona currently holds an 11-point lead over second-placed Atletico Madrid.