Guardiola took no prisoners in press conference with City’s rivals firmly in his sights

Manchester City face Aston Villa this weekend in the first game since the were charged by the Premier League for breaching financial rules.

After a four-year investigation, Man City were alleged to have breached league rules dating from the 2009/10 to 2017/18 seasons. 

The Citizens will be hoping to avoid distraction from the drama off the pitch and pick up a crucial win in the Premier League title race on Sunday.

Manager Pep Guardiola has addressed the club’s charges, possible expulsion, his future at the club and looked ahead to the clash with Villa. 

Here’s every word from Guardiola’s press conference…

On the Premier League charges

“My first words about the Club are thoughts about the people in Turkey and Syria for these terrible moments.

“My first thought is we’re already being condemned. It’s the same with UEFA, we were already condemned.

“We are lucky we live in a country where everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

“It seems like we have already been sentenced. What is going to happen, I don’t know. We think we have good lawyers and we are going to defend our positon.

“Time will depend what happens. We will see what a judge, the Premier League decides.

“In the same way with UEFA, we are innocent.”

On his trust in the club

“The club proved we were completely innocent. You know on what side I am on.

“I am fully convinced that we will be innocent. What will happen then? It’s been the same since Abu Dhabi took over.

“Between the word of the 19 clubs or the word of my people, I’m sorry if I am going to rely on the word of my people.”

On his future as Man City manager

“I am not moving from this seat. I can assure you more than ever that I want to stay. More than ever!

“Now I don’t want to move on. Not because the people say, ‘They lied to you Pep’. They did not lie to me.

“Look what happened with UEFA, we did not do anything wrong. Now is the same case. Why should I not trust my people?

“I want to stay here even more now, I trust my people.

“I have sometimes wondered but I’ve never been more certain about staying.”

On other Premier League clubs

“Yeah of course. It is the Premier League.

“Why? I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the other executives. Daniel Levy and those kinds of people and go to a press conference and ask them.

“They open a precedent right now. What happened to us, be careful.

“What happened to us, there are a lot of (other) clubs that could be accused in the future.

“We can accept if they do not like how we behave but let us defend ourselves.

“There are a lot a lot of things, there are suggestions, there are no sentences.

On possible expulsion from league

“If we are guilty we will go to the lower divisions like before, we will call Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee.”

On media coverage of the charges

“We were not part of the establishment, they [the media] can do it but the only thing I regret is that they should let us have the chance to defend ourselves.

“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but it didn’t happen. Who is going to return the damage [caused by] the articles?”

On game against Aston Villa

“We lost to Spurs. The rest was quite good; FA Cup and Premier League. The game v Spurs was not bad.

“We need more consistency. We are going to try and start on Sunday.

“The players will be focused on our game. That is for sure.

“We have to try to beat them and the players will be focused on the game. They are good in both sides [defensively and offensively].”