mollyfamwat9:47 AM ET
Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has criticised plans to create a European Super League, insisting it is not a sport.
City is one of 12 clubs taking part in the new tournament, alongside Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan, Inter Milan and Juventus.
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Under the plans, founding members will retain their seats regardless of their success in the field. And although Guardiola admits he needs more details on the proposals, he spoke about the concept at Tuesday’s press conference.
This is not a sport where the link between effort and success does not exist, said Guardiola, who revealed he was aware of the plan hours before the statement was released on Sunday night.
This is not a sport where success is already guaranteed or if you lose, it doesn’t matter. I have said many times that I would like to see better competition. It’s not fair when a team at the top fights, fights, fights and can’t qualify because it’s only for a few teams.
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Florentino Perez says Super League teams will not be excluded from the Champions League or domestic competitions.
Premier League bosses Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel were also asked about the proposals and Guardiola said he felt uncomfortable when managers had to answer questions about plans drawn up in boardrooms.
The 14 Premier League clubs outside the top six met with the FA on Tuesday to discuss the immediate implications of the Super League bid.
A statement has been made: The 14 clubs present unanimously and decisively rejected the plan to host the competition. The League will continue to work with key stakeholders, including supporters groups, the Government, UEFA, the FA, the EFL, the PFA and the LMA, to protect the interests of football and urges clubs participating in the proposed competition to cease their participation immediately.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, chairman of the ESL Group, addressed ESL publicly in an interview in Spain on Monday, and Guardiola asked City chief executive Khaldoon Al Mubarak and owner Sheikh Mansour to do the same.
I think Ole, Jurgen, Thomas, Mikel [Arteta] and Ryan [Mason], we talk six times a week in the press conference, we can talk about everything, Guardiola said.
We talked about the virus and COVID and the NHS and the holidays. I say what I really feel, but we are not the right people to answer these questions, because presidents can say more clearly what the idea is for the future and where football is going.
When we have all the information, I can give my opinion. It’s a statement… nothing more than that. I would like to see the president go around the world and say why we made this decision. I support this club and I am part of it, but I also have my own opinions. For the six of us [managers] it’s uncomfortable, we don’t have all the information.
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