Pep Guardiola will be absent from the touchline for Manchester City’s next two matches after having an operation to correct his “severe back pain”. According to the club, their treble‑winning manager has been struggling with the injury for a while and flew out to Barcelona on Tuesday for an “emergency” but “routine” surgery, which was successful. Guardiola, 52, will remain in Barcelona during his convalescence and is expected to miss City’s matches against Sheffield United on Sunday and Fulham on 2 September, with the assistant manager, Juanma Lillo, stepping in. City anticipate Guardiola returning to the dugout after the international break for the visit to West Ham on 16 September. In a statement the club said: “Pep Guardiola has today undergone a routine operation on a back problem. The Manchester City boss has been suffering with severe back pain for some time lately, and flew out to Barcelona for emergency surgery performed by Dr Mireia Illueca. The surgery was a success, and Pep will now recover and rehabilitate in Barcelona. “In his absence, assistant manager Juanma Lillo will oversee coaching of the first team on the training field and will assume duties on the touchline until Pep’s return. He is expected to return after the forthcoming international break. Everyone at Manchester City wishes Pep a speedy recovery, and look forward to seeing him back in Manchester soon.” City are second in the Premier League with six points after victories against Burnley and Newcastle. Lillo, 57, first moved to the Etihad Stadium in summer 2020, replacing Mikel Arteta as Guardiola’s assistant after guiding Qingdao Huanghai to promotion to the top-tier Chinese Super League. He left before City’s treble-winning campaign last season to take up a head coach role with Al‑Sadd in Qatar but came back to City this month. Lillo has had a peripatetic career: as well as coaching in his native Spain, he has taken charge of sides in Colombia and Japan, and has served as understudy to Jorge Sampaoli with the Chile national side. Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, said: “His vision is totally aligned with Pep’s. They both love this game and want their teams to produce high-quality, attacking football.”