Pep Guardiola broke his silence on Manchester City’s Champions League ban for breaching Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules ahead of his side’s clash with West Ham United.
Manchester City were hit with a £25million fine for ‘serious breaches’ of FFP rules, while they have been booted out of Europe’s premier competition for the next two seasons.
Questions have been raised over Guardiola’s future at the club after the ban – his current deal expires at the end of next season – but while he was unwilling to go too deep into matters before the clash at the Etihad, he insisted he and the players ‘support the club 100%’ in this difficult time.
‘After the game, when you want to talk we’ll talk about whatever you want. Let’s focus on what we have to do.’ he said.
‘At the first moment there was impact after a few hours we can not control. We support the club 100% and what you have to do is our games.
Asked if it was a burden on him to lift his squad, he replied: ‘They are exceptional professionals.
‘I don’t know [about the fans’ reaction]. Hopefully they can help us from here until the end of the season. We have to play for the people here.
‘After 10-12 days without games everyone is ready and fit. We are professionals we want to play games. We had the break and it was good. Few days off with our families and back to business.’
Manchester City chief executive Ferran Soriano had earlier denied the allegations aimed at the club.
‘Well, the most important thing I have to say today is that the allegations are not true. They are simply not true,’ said Soriano.
The fans can be sure of two things. The first one is that the allegations are false. And the second is that we will do everything that can be done to prove so.
‘We know the fans are supporting us. We can feel it. MCFC fans have gone through challenges over the decades. This is just another challenge. We will stick together, we will go through it and we will not let the fans down.
‘The owner has not put money in this club that has not been properly declared. We are a sustainable football club, we are profitable, we don’t have debt, our accounts have been scrutinised many times, by auditors, by regulators, by investors and this is perfectly clear.
‘We are looking for an early resolution obviously through a thorough process and a fair process so my best hope is that this will be finished before the beginning of the summer and until then for us, it is business as usual.
‘Obviously, [Pep] has been kept informed about this process but this is not something for him to respond to. He is focused on the football, he is focusing on the game, the game at hand, the game today, tomorrow and the next weeks.
‘As well as the players. They are calm, they are focused and this matter is more a business matter, a legal matter than a football matter.’
