Manager Pep Guardiola responded to Jose Mourinho’s sharp remarks about winning the Premier League triple crown “fairly and cleanly.”
Manchester City boss Guardiola has recently been compared to former Chelsea and Manchester United managers who gave six fingers to Liverpool fans after their 2-0 loss to Liverpool, a nod to the amount of Premier League trophies he has won so far.
Mourinho, who won three league titles at Stamford Bridge, was also sacked following a defeat to Liverpool in December 2018 after flashing three fingers at opposing fans during a disappointing league campaign at Old Trafford.
“Guardiola said something about me: He won six trophies, I won three, but I won fair and clean,” the Turkish media reported. Hurriyat Fenerbahce manager Mourinho was quoted as saying on Friday ahead of the game against Besiktas.
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reminded Liverpool fans on Sunday just how many Premier League titles he has won. But was it as good as when Jose Mourinho lost his cool after United lost 3-0 to Tottenham in 2018?
“If I lose, I want to congratulate my opponent because he did better than me. I don’t want to win after a 150-round trial.”
Mourinho faced 115 charges against City for breaching Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018, which the club have always denied.
On Friday afternoon, Guardiola was asked about Mourinho’s comments.
“It was a joke. It was a joke.” said the Spaniard.
“He’s another one on a huge list of people who want the team to be in League One. I don’t know if it’s going to be in League One or the Conference.”
“I would like to say the same to Jose. We are innocent until proven guilty and we will see what happens after that. That is what it is. It was a total joke.
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Guardiola insists Arne Slot’s ‘Mo Salah’ comment about Manchester City was just a joke. He is also hoping the comparisons to Mourinho’s ‘three championships’ boasts will not end the same way for the former Manchester United boss.
“My team, him, Chelsea and myself can sit at the table with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger at Manchester City and win so many titles.
“I’m sure he’ll congratulate us sooner or later.”
He continued, “If I made that person angry, so sorry. But that was a joke. Actually, there are 3 of him and 6 of me. This is true, but the intention was completely fine.
“Here is another person who wants to put us at the bottom of a huge list in this country and around the world.
“As I have said many times, wait for the verdict. Especially in a democracy, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, right?”
