Friends With Arteta, It Turns Out That Guardiola Has No Respect For Arsenal

JAKARTA - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admits Arsenal deserve credit for what they do on the field, especially when they beat City in the FA Cup semi-final last Saturday. However, despite being friendly with Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta, Pep has little respect for the Gunners off the pitch.

"After we were beaten (in the FA Cup semifinals), we shook hands. Opponents always deserve respect and appreciation," said Guardiola, reported by Antara.

"And for Arsenal, I have a lot of respect for what they do on the pitch, but not so much off the pitch," added the Spaniard without elaborating on the reasons for his words.

The defeat to Arsenal suffered by Guardiola's team days after UEFA's two-year ban from European football was overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

It was previously reported that nine Premier League clubs wrote letters to CAS not to grant City's appeal regarding violations of Financial Fair Play rules.

However, Manchester City are now stepping on the gas. They have prepared a budget of 170 million euros to strengthen the team this summer to celebrate the cancellation of the sentence.

They are ready to add more quality players for the depth of this already strong squad. In addition, they will also certainly try to return the Premier League trophy to the Etihad after being stolen by Liverpool this season.

As they look into the new season, City will have an away match at Watford on Tuesday night and finish their Premier League with a home game against relegated Norwich City.

Furthermore, they will have an important match in the second leg of the Champions League in August. Kevin De Bruyne et al will host Real Madrid, who in the first leg they beat 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu.