Guardiola Demands UEFA Apology, Hits Out At ‘Whispering’ Premier League Rivals
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has demanded an apology from UEFA after the Court Of Arbitration For Sport overruled a two-year European ban and has criticised Premier League rivals who wished their punishment stood.
The Citizens are free to compete in Europe’s premier club competition next season after Monday’s ruling went in their favour.
Manchester City were nonetheless fined £9m for not cooperating with UEFA officials during the initial investigations.
Before CAS’s ruling on the case, City’s Premier League rivals, including the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Arsenal had written to the adjudication body not to delay their decision, which otherwise would have improved Pep Guardiola’s men’s chances of competing in Europe next season.
In his pre-match conference to preview Wednesday’s Premier League home game against Bournemouth, Guardiola demanded an apology from UEFA and had some strong words for his rivals.
"I am incredibly happy for the decision. It shows all the people said about the club wasn't true. What we won the pitch we defend on the pitch,” said Guardiola.
"We should be apologised to because if we did something wrong we would accept the decision from UEFA, because we did something wrong.
“I know for the elite clubs like Liverpool, United and Arsenal are not comfortable with us being here.
“But we deserve to be here, we deserve to be stronger, we have incredible people working in this club to make our fans proud and we don’t have to ask permission to be here.
“When we lose, I shake their hands and congratulate them, all the time we have done that.
“So, guys, accept it. We wanted to be here and we tried on the pitch. If you don't agree, knock on the door and speak to our chairman and chief executive, don’t go whispering.
“We invested a lot of money, but we did it in the right things. We're not banned, because we followed the rules for FFP as UEFA decided. If not, we’d be banned.
“We’ve done it properly, in the right way. UEFA say we do it and we did it.
“People have to understand right now that we are here to try to compete on the pitch at the same level as the elite clubs in the Premier League and Europe.”
