Pep Guardiola is furious with Mikel Arteta over comments the Arsenal manager made in the wake of last Sunday’s spiky draw at Manchester City and feels let down by his former assistant.
Those views are understood to be widely shared at City, where Arteta coached from 2016-19. Arteta said on Tuesday he had “all the information” about his former club, prompting Guardiola to respond on Friday that his fellow Spaniard should leave the “clouds” and come clean about what he meant.
Although Guardiola chose his words carefully at his press conference, he is privately fuming at the remarks from someone he long considered a friend. He expected more from Arteta, feeling he mentored him at City and went above and beyond in urging the club to let him take the Arsenal job even though the approach came partway through a season and from a direct rival.
Arteta spoke of his love, respect and admiration for Guardiola and said their relationship had not been affected but it is clear that view is not shared by his former boss. The comments from Arteta that prompted the fracture came in response to a question about City players’ complaints regarding Arsenal’s “dark arts” tactics. “I have been there before, I was there for four years,” he said. “I have all the information. So I know. Believe me.”
The remarks were put to Guardiola, who was asked whether he regarded it as a betrayal. “Next time, Mikel has to be more clear,” he said. “He has to be more clear exactly: what does it mean? He said he was here for four years and: ‘We know exactly what happened here.’ Because it can be related in all the process now with 155 [130] charges; maybe it’s about that. He knows information about that maybe … I don’t know, because really, next time, I have to see more clearly exactly what happened.”
It was suggested to Guardiola that Arteta may have deliberately left his meaning vague. “Hopefully this question has been asked,” he said. “He can answer exactly what does it mean when he said he was here and: ‘I know what’s happening here.’ And instead of being in the clouds there, to be more precise.”
Guardiola does not intend to reach out to his Arsenal counterpart for clarity. “No, because we spoke by text after the game and that’s all,” he said.
As the fallout from last Sunday continued there was also more talk of conflict. While celebrating John Stones’s equaliser for City Erling Haaland bounced the ball off the back of Gabriel’s head and the Arsenal defender said: “It’s a battle, a war, so it’s normal to have provocative acts in football.” Guardiola picked up the theme when sked about the behaviour of Haaland, who also taunted Arteta after the final whistle, saying: “Stay humble.”
Guardiola said: “Gabriel said it perfectly in the press conference, after the match: ‘So, this is a war, we have here to provoke the opponent, to push them.’ And at the end, what can you do? … You provoke me, OK, I’m there. You want a war? Now we war. So, what do I have to do? I’m pretty sure he [Haaland] is not proud, but listen, the type of challenge that Arsenal challenges [present], I understand it.”
Arteta, speaking before Guardiola, had insisted their relationship was unaffected. “I love him, I respect him, I admire him and I admire his team and everything that he does,” he said. “This is sport. One thing is our profession, another is our personal relationship.
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“If our relationship was damaged because one draws and the other one wins or the amount of times that they’ve beaten us, I would not talk to him any more. So that’s not our relationship, especially the relationship that I consider both of us have. In sport it will never get in my way in a personal relationship. That’s for sure.”
Arteta, whose side host Leicester on Saturday, brushed off criticism from Roy Keane that his team were “dinosaurs” for their defensive tactics at City but admitted he did care what Guardiola thinks of him. Asked whether it was hard to maintain their friendship with so many accusations flying around, he said: “It depends. If those accusations affect you it’s because maybe they’re true. If they don’t and you know and you do what you believe is right and you show your integrity it doesn’t have to be.
“There are opinions and if you don’t like opinions then you shouldn’t be sitting in the position that I am. It’s quite simple. Don’t take it personal. It’s part of our job. The things that you really care about, make sure you handle them in the right way. That relationship I really care about. The same with a lot of people in that staff and players that I spent really important years of my life with.”
Arteta insisted he was enjoying the intense rivalry with Guardiola and City: “I prefer this reaction much more than someone clapping my back after the game and saying: ‘Well done, you guys are in the right direction.’ This is why I do what I do. This is an emotion I cannot control but I have to be as competitive as possible, the reaction of someone else is different.”
Arsenal hope to have their summer signing Mikel Merino available next week to ease their mounting injury list and Arteta said it was important to listen to players’ complaints that they are playing too many matches. “We always try to support the players and I think they are raising their voices and I think we have to listen to them,” he said. “I can give my own opinions about certain things. But they are the main – the only – protagonists and they have to be heard. Let’s see.”
