Pep Guardiola has said “all the Premier League teams want us to be sanctioned” after La Liga’s president, Javier Tebas, claimed several top-flight English clubs had told him Manchester City should be punished over alleged financial wrongdoing.
A hearing into more than 100 charges brought against City by the Premier League starts on Monday and Guardiola said he knew what people “are expecting”. The club have denied wrongdoing.
Tebas, a longstandingvocal critic of City, was quoted by Mundo Deportivo as saying: “I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned.”
Guardiola was asked about Tebas’s claim. “Maybe he’s right,” he said. “For the fact that all the Premier League teams want us to be sanctioned, that is for sure. I agree with Tebas for the first time, and hopefully the last. I am pretty sure I agree with that.
“That’s why I say to Mr Tebas and the Premier League teams, wait for the independent panel. Justice is there in a modern democracy so wait for the decision – it’s not more complicated than that. But I don’t know if he is a lawyer or the rest of the Premier League teams are lawyers so what I ask for is that: wait. It happened with Uefa. We believe that we have not done anything wrong, so we go to an independent panel and we are going to wait. Good.
“I’m happy it starts on Monday and I know there will be more rumours about the sentences that come up and we’re going to see. I know what people are looking for, I know what they are expecting – I know it because I have read it for many years – but I’ve said everyone is innocent until guilt is proven.”
Guardiola said he and his players had not discussed the case. “I’m not a lawyer. Erling [Haaland] is not a lawyer, so we didn’t talk about it. What is going to happen is with the independent panel and we will accept the sentence.”
This week Haaland’s close friend Ivar Eggja died. Guardiola will wait to see if the striker is available for Brentford’s visit on Saturday. “It was a tough moment for him and his family,” the manager said. “It was sad news for a close person of him and his family. Our thoughts are for them. It’s sad and we will see tomorrow [Saturday] if he is able mentally and physically to play.”
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Nathan Aké was taken off on a stretcher during the Netherlands’ 2-2 draw with Germany on Tuesday and will miss at least seven games, Guardiola said. “I think it will be until the next international break [7-15 October]. We were unlucky with Nathan and the national team. Every time he goes there he comes back injured.”
