MY ACCOUNT
Pep Guardiola has warned Manchester City’s Premier League rivals to beware any future investigation into their own money matters.
City have been accused of over 100 breaches of the Premier League’s financial rules between the seasons of 2009-10 and 2017-18, with an independent commission to review the cases against them.
Guardiola believes City’s Premier League rivals are responsible for the allegations they face, saying every one of the other 19 teams in the league want to see his team punished.
For his part, Guardiola is convinced City have done nothing wrong, but he said he could not be sure others would be so squeaky clean.
“They open a precedent right now,” Guardiola said. “What they have done to us, be careful, be careful in the future.
“Because many clubs can make a suggestion, and there are a lot of clubs that can be accused like we are being accused, without maybe being innocent.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. I can have a feeling.
“Would they push to get rid of us in the competitions? That is obvious, because they believe we didn’t behave properly, and we can accept that, but let us defend when we believe we did it properly.”
Guardiola said City bosses are more confident than ever about having adhered to the rules, having previously faced a case brought by UEFA over financial fair play.
In 2020, City had a two-year ban from European football overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. They were fined €10million for a failure to cooperate with UEFA investigations, but the ban was lifted.
Guardiola would rather focus on on-pitch matters, and urged his players to “defend this club as well as possible”.
“Why should they be distracted? I’m confident in my players,” Guardiola said.
He played down talk of a recent dip in form, although City have lost three of their last six games, with an EFL Cup exit at the hands of Southampton followed by a derby defeat to Manchester United and a loss at Tottenham.
Aston Villa visit the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, a repeat of the meeting on the final day of last season when City came from 2-0 behind to win 3-2 and secure the Premier League title for a fourth time in five seasons.
“We lost to Spurs – the rest was quite good,” Guardiola said of his team’s form. “We know the situation. We know we have to make more consistency and we’ll try to start on Sunday.
“Normally we didn’t give up in previous seasons in the toughest moments, and we were there, and I have the feeling we will continue to do it.
“We try to do our best on the pitch like everyone else. The players will be focused on our games, that’s for sure.”
Would there be extra motivation given the off-field goings-on?
“No,” said Guardiola. “When games are coming back everyone is going to do the job they have to do, ourselves on the on pitch and the lawyers in the court.
“We are not alone when we are together, but against 19 teams we are alone, that is for sure.”
He said the perceived opposition to City by their Premier League rival clubs would not be a fuel this weekend.
“You have to play good, we have to beat Aston Villa,” Guardiola said. “If 19 clubs [and the case against City] are going to help us beat Aston Villa? We have to do it like always we have done it.
“We did it on the pitch. If they want to take it off the pitch, OK, but let us defend.”
