Chinese whispers ‘far from reality' Guardiola dismisses claims that City were disrespectful

that. It’s a unique experience because it’s not easy to come to Asia during the season. To come to Asia and experience the culture, the restaurants. It’s amazing to get to know other people. That’s why I can’t understand what people are saying – maybe one journalist is a bit upset. I don’t know why but it’s far away from the reality.”

City arrived in Shanghai almost 48 hours behind schedule after an administrative error. That gave them less than a day to prepare for their opening game against West Ham in Nanjing.

They swept aside the Hammers 4-1, but were beaten by Wolves in the final on penalties. However, it was the club’s apparent failure to embrace the experience that provoked the media arm of the Chinese government into a stinging rebuke. City chief executive Ferran Soriano used the trip to give a presentation on how his club are trying to tap into Chinese markets, which prompted Xinhua to claim his mission was “focused on how the club could best commercially expand into China and look to relieve Chinese fans of their money”.

The attack will come as a huge embarrassment to City’s Abu Dhabi owners.

Sheikh Mansour sold a 13 per cent stake in the club to Chinese Media Capital for £265million in December 2015. Chinese president Xi Jinping helped seal the deal when he visited the Etihad two months earlier during a state visit to Britain. Five months ago, City purchased Sichuan Jiuniu FC, incorporating them into their City Football Group.

But Guardiola added: “We came here 23 hours later, travelled two hours by train to play in Nanjing, then back to Shanghai. Now we are in Hong Kong and then back to Tokyo – and always with the biggest smile. We don’t sleep too well but we make good training sessions for all the guys.

“For our club it’s a huge experience to go to other countries because we are not Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich. They’ve been doing it for many years. For us it’s new.

“I’m so proud of what we’ve done. All the marketing departments, all the people who’ve organised this tour. And maybe next year or in two years we are going to come back to China. Sooner or later we’ll come back – sure.”