The Catalan coach has come under fire for criticizing fans after beating RB Leipzig in the Champions League
Pep Guardiola has refused to apologize for his comments about Manchester City fans, and feels his words have been twisted.
After beating RB Leipzig 6-3 in the Champions League on Thursday (16/9) WIB, the City boss said he “wanted more fans” in the stadium during the clash with Southampton in the English Premier League, Saturday (18/9).
The comments drew criticism from some supporters who felt criticized after a crowd of 38,062 attended the game against the German club at the 53,500-seat Etihad Stadium, with the away section relatively empty.
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“After the game against Leipzig, did I say I was disappointed the stadium wasn’t full?” Guardiola said at a press conference. “Interpretations are interpretations, I’m not going to apologize for what I said. I’m not saying anything wrong, I’m shocked about what happened about this.”
“It’s not the first time I’ve said that in my career, I said it at Barcelona and Bayern [Munich].”
“When we play a tough game like in the Champions League, and only have three days to prepare while Southampton have a whole week and imagine how difficult it will be, I made an approach to do something together again tomorrow Saturday.”
“I mean, I’ll be happy [jika lebih banyak fans hadir ke stadion], we need support, it doesn’t matter how many people come, but I invite them to come and enjoy the game because we need their support. If after five seasons people can’t understand my behavior, it’s because they deliberately misinterpreted what I said.”
Manchester City’s official supporters group secretary, Kevin Parker, spoke to Goal ahead of the game on why it is unlikely the Etihad will be full on a Champions League night.
One of them is because of the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, people are still worried about the virus.
