Pep Guardiola stepped off the Champions League touchline and onto a different stage Wednesday night, delivering an emotional, unflinching speech in Barcelona that cast the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, especially the suffering of children, as a moral failure of the modern world.
The Manchester City manager addressed more than 12,000 people at Palau Sant Jordi during the Act x Palestine charity concert, a "concert-manifesto” that closed a campaign organized by human rights groups, cultural organizations and activists to fund grassroots humanitarian aid and cultural reconstruction projects in Palestine.
Wearing a black-and-white Palestinian keffiyeh, Guardiola opened his remarks in Arabic, "Good evening, Assalamu alaikum (peace be upon you)”, before launching into what he called a manifesto for humanity. His focus never wavered: children trapped in Gaza’s destruction, left to endure war largely alone.
"For two years I’ve seen the same images,” Guardiola said, recalling footage of a young boy filming himself among the rubble, asking where his mother was, unaware she had already been killed. "And I always think: what must they be thinking? I think we have left them alone. We have abandoned them.”
Guardiola condemned what he described as the silence and cowardice of global leaders, accusing the powerful of allowing innocent people to kill other innocents while remaining insulated from the consequences. "The world has done absolutely nothing,” he said. "We look away, and that is why this continues.”
He framed the concert not only as an act of solidarity with Palestinians, but as a wider stand for human dignity. "I imagine those children saying to us, ‘Where are you? Come help us,’” Guardiola said. "And so far, we haven’t.”
The event featured around 30 artists spanning genres and borders, including Palestinian singer Lina Makoul, who opened the night, and surprise appearances by Rosalía, Ana Tijoux and Bad Gyal. The atmosphere blended music with protest, grief with defiance.
Guardiola’s appearance came just one day after City’s 2-0 win over Galatasaray at the Etihad Stadium sealed a top-eight finish in the Champions League. He flew back to his native Catalonia immediately after the match to take part in the event.
It was not an isolated gesture. Guardiola has repeatedly spoken out on Gaza in recent years, describing the situation as something that "hurts my whole body” and insisting it must be understood in humanitarian, not ideological, terms. In November 2025, he supported a Catalonia vs. Palestine charity match at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium, held in honor of more than 400 Palestinian athletes killed during the conflict.
Clips of Wednesday’s speech spread rapidly online, drawing praise for Guardiola’s willingness to use his global platform beyond football. His words echoed warnings from organizations such as UNICEF, which have documented thousands of children killed, orphaned or separated from their families amid widespread destruction.
Guardiola did not offer political solutions. Instead, he issued a challenge, to refuse indifference.
"This is not about sides,” he said. "It’s about humanity.”