Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was in a defiant mood after the Court of Arbitration in Sport reversed the Champions League ban on City and has demanded an apology from everyone who doubted City’s case and insists that the club has no one to apologise to since they have been cleared of any wrongdoing now. He spared no one in an aggressive press conference and said that even likes of Arsene Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson had spent their way to success and his club should not be judged on the financial spending.
Pep Guardiola said “I don’t want to apologise for anything, I’m sorry guys. Manchester City don’t have to apologise because the three independent judges decided we have done everything properly. It’s clear. More than clear, it’s impossible. All these clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leicester, Wolves, Manchester United, Tottenham, Liverpool – Liverpool! – Burnley, I understand they want the five positions for the Champions League. I can understand. We said, yeah, we are completely with you eight clubs. We want to make the resolution from CAS as soon as possible to clarify this. Because I said all the time if we did something wrong and we needed to be banned, we will be banned and we will accept it. I was completely with these eight clubs to go to CAS and make their resolution. The resolution is there so that’s why they must be happy. They must be happy because we didn’t break the rules. We played the same rules as all the clubs in the Premier League and Uefa so that’s why. So next time before, [go and] make phone calls, make a call to our chairman or CEOs and say: ‘Guys, all these clubs, we are going to do it all together, to try this kind of resolution.’ We were on the same page so unfortunately just four teams can play in the Champions League next season, not the five. How many times have people come to our club whispering about us? I’d love for it to finish. Look in our eyes and say something to us face to face. We’ll shake hands if we lose. But they lost off the pitch. They have to go on the pitch and try to beat us like the sportsmen that we are. Jose and other managers should know that our reputation was damaged, that we should be apologised to. Don’t go behind us and start whispering, seven or eight clubs. Our reputation was damaged. Our prestige and reputation was damaged with accusations that now we have shown were not true. The people should accept it. We should complain and we aren’t. The people said we were cheating, lying, many times. The presumption of innocence was not there. I know that for elite clubs – especially Liverpool, United, Arsenal – it is uncomfortable us being here but they have to understand we deserve to be with them, competing with them.”
