Off-court Josep Guardiola is "not really" honoring Arsenal, which beat their team 2-0 on Saturday last year's winner Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals on Saturday.
"After we were defeated, we shook hands with them. Opponents always deserve my respect," the 49-year-old Catalan coach told reporters. "Arsenal deserved recognition for its performance on the field, but not really outside."
Five days before the semi-final at Wembley Stadium, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) handed down a two-year ban on Manchester City from the European Cup in February for violating financial fair play. Guardiola complained that, allegedly, nine Premier League clubs had turned to CAS in a joint letter arguing that the penalty should be maintained. At City, the initiative is believed to have been led by Arsenal.
The European Federation (UEFA) has launched an investigation against Manchester City following a leak in Football Leaks. Internal correspondence and club documents released by the website revealed that the Arab-owned association had been illegally funded and deceived by UEFA for years, although all this was denied by the club.
UEFA ruled Manchester City off the European Cup for two seasons in February. However, according to CAS's reasoning on Monday, the City did not violate the rules of financial fair play, at the same time the Sports Arbitration Court imposed a fine of ten million euros for not cooperating with UEFA in the investigation.
(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti / Photo: pixabay)