On the wake of Manchester United's domestic and bitter rival Manchester City being charged by the Premier League Financial Fair Play for breaching 100 rules and could face potential punishment including getting stripped of their Premier League trophies.
Man City Manager Pep Guardiola has accused nine clubs including Manchester United of pushing an agenda and trying to kick them out of the Champions League. The former FC Barcelona and FC Bayern Munich boss made this statement during his press conference on Friday afternoon.
In his list of the nine teams that attempted to have Manchester City eliminated from the Champions League three years ago, Pep Guardiola singled out clubs like Liverpool, Arsenal, and Manchester United.
After appealing the two-year ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, City was able to compete in Europe in 2020. An independent panel of UEFA's Club Financial Control Body imposed the punishment after finding Guardiola's team responsible for overstating sponsorship revenue between 2012 and 2016.
In addition, City was judged to have "failed to participate in the inquiry" and was fined €30 million (£27 million), but they argued they had not been given a fair hearing and were successful in their appeal. The prohibition was lifted and the penalty was lowered to €10 million (£9 million). However, the Sky Blue is facing yet another financial crisis after being punished by the Premier League on Monday for 101 alleged rule violations.
In his news conference on Friday, Pep Guardiola responded angrily to the accusations before focusing on nine English rivals who attempted to have them eliminated from the Champions League three years prior.
"While we wait for UEFA to make a sentence against us, nine teams - Burnley, Wolves, Leicester, Newcastle, Spurs, Arsenal, [Manchester] United, Liverpool, Chelsea - out of the Champions League when they wanted that position.
"It is said there are not enemies or friends, just interests," he said "They want to put it out to take that position we won on the pitch. They say, 'You have to be out of the Champions League. You have to go to League One or League Two or maybe the Conference?'.
"We have already been in the lower divisions. We will be back there - not a problem, just in case. We will call [former City players] Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee and we will do again. But they should wait. The Premier League put it there but they should wait. We are going to defend ourselves, like we did in the UEFA situation."
Pep Guardiola also criticized competitors for "condemning" City based only on the accusations made against them and said he is "absolutely certain" the team will be exonerated. "The club demonstrated they were totally innocent [in 2020]," he continued.
"What's happened since Monday is the same as what happened with UEFA. We have already been condemned. You have to understand that 19 teams in the Premier League are accusing us without us having the ability to defend. I am fully convinced we will be innocent," he concluded.
When Man City hosts Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday, Pep Guardiola can't let the commotion around the team get in the way of his focus. By the time they get onto the field on Saturday, the Sky Blues may already be eight points behind Arsenal in the race for the title. Mikel Arteta's side are playing against Brentford at the Emirates Stadium.
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