THIS WAS A GREAT DAY FOR FOOTBALL
Seething Pep hits back at Klopp, Mourinho and insists: We’re no cheats
PEP GUARDIOLA has ordered his biggest rivals to apologise for launching a whispering campaign against Manchester City.
A fuming Guardiola launched an astonishing outburst against the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho – and declared City’s legal victory over UEFA a “great day for football”.
Both Klopp and Mourinho have slammed the Court of Arbitration’s decision to uphold City’s appeal against a two-year ban from UEFA for alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play rules.
Klopp branded the ruling “not a good deal for football”, while bitter rival Mourinho labelled it a “disgrace” and questioned why City had still been fined if they did nothing wrong.
But Guardiola blasted back and demanded his club’s critics say sorry.
The City gaffer is seething that up to eight Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Chelsea, contacted CAS in March demanding his side not to be allowed to start next season’s Champions League campaign if the appeal took longer than expected.
Guardiola said: “Jose and all the managers should know that we were damaged. We should be apologised to. Like I said many times, if we did something wrong, we will accept UEFA’s decision.
“But we don’t expect Liverpool or Tottenham or Arsenal or Chelsea or Wolves or all the clubs are going to defend us. We can defend ourselves.
“We believe what we have done is correct and three independent judges said this. So this was a good day for football.
“We were damaged. People said we cheated and were lying. The presumption of innocence was not there.
“They are the opinions of Jurgen and Jose but I’d tell them that today was a good day for football. I don’t expect they are going to defend my club.”