July 23 – English champions Manchester City have been branded “disrespectful” and “arrogant” by China’s state media following their pre-season visit to the country for the Premier League Asia Trophy.
Pep Guardiola’s side have been to Shanghai and Nanjing for the event but were taken to task in an editorial in the government-owned Xinhua Agency under the headline ‘Chinese fans love for Man City goes unreciprocated on home soil’.
The article claims the City squad failed to engage with the local fans in the same way that Wolves, West Ham and Newcastle – the other three teams in the competition – did and were only in it for the money. Meanwhile, Guardiola himself was criticised for refusing to speak to fans after City beat West Ham in Nanjing.
“Taken alone, it might have been excusable as a one-off occurrence, perhaps due to jetlag or a packed schedule. But unfortunately for Chinese fans here and local media, it proved to just be one example among many of the utter disrespect shown by Manchester City to their hosts during their tour of China,” Xinhua said.
“For the Premier League champions, their appearance in China was nothing more than a commercial obligation, and their lack of enthusiasm and the indifferent treatment of their hosts stands in stark contrast to representatives of other clubs.”
Responding to the claims Guardiola said they were “far from reality.”
“I can’t understand what people are saying – maybe one journalist is a bit upset, I don’t know why. We were committed to the co-operation you have to do here in China. The people from the hotel, all the people asking us to do things, we were ready to do that.
“For us it’s a new experience every season, it will help on the pitch, and off the pitch we are showing what an amazing club we are and how we are trying to be better every season. I’m so proud of what we’ve done – all the marketing departments, all the people who’ve organised this tour.”
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