Pep Guardiola claims Jose Mourinho wants Man City to be RELEGATED

Pep Guardiola has issued a response to Jose Mourinho's jibe that his Premier League titles were 'won fairly' in a pointed reference to the 115 Premier League charges of financial impropriety that Man City are facing.

Guardiola had earlier in the week joked his six-finger salute towards the baying Liverpool crowd last Sunday was like a Mourinho gesture.

The Portuguese held up three fingers near the end of his Manchester United reign in 2018 in response to mounting criticism. And Guardiola said: ‘Maybe we are similar, but he won three and I won six.’

That provoked Mourinho who referred to the 115 Premier League charges of financial impropriety that City are facing.

‘I want to win, but I want to win cleanly and fairly,’ said Mourinho, who led Chelsea to the title in 2005, 2006 and 2015 under the ownership of Roman Abramovich, whose reign is also under the Premier League microscope after the current hierarchy reported that ‘incomplete financial information’ was submitted by the club between 2012 and 2019.

‘If I can’t win cleanly, I’d rather lose,’ added Mourinho.

‘He won six trophies and I won three, but I won fairly and cleanly. I don’t want to win by dealing with 115 cases.’

Guardiola later scoffed at Mourinho’s retort. ‘I was joking but he’s another one in the huge list who want the team in League One or the Conference,’ the 53-year-old said. ‘I would say to Jose the same: we are innocent until proven guilty.

‘I was joking but he’s another one in the huge list who want the team in League One or the Conference,’ the 53-year-old said. ‘I would say to Jose the same: we are innocent until proven guilty. We will see what happens.

‘Both with our teams, him with Chelsea and me with Man City, we can sit at the table with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, right? For the many, many titles we won.

‘If I have offended him I’m so sorry, but it was a joke. The fact is he has three and I have six. This is a fact.

‘Another one in this country and more around the world that want us at the bottom. It’s OK, it’s fine. I’ve said many times, wait for the sentence. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.’

Mourinho and Guardiola’s enmity dates to their time as rivals in Spain between 2010 and 2012 as the managers of Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.

Guardiola enjoys warmer relations with Ferguson and Wenger and the latter has been an unlikely ally in City’s wrangle with the Premier League.

‘With Arsene, since he retired it’s been incredible,’ Guardiola said. ‘Arsene has been a gentleman for many years. Sir Alex, a few chats.

‘We talk about life, the experience, they ask me how it is in England, their experiences at United and Arsenal and the impact (for Wenger) when changing from Highbury to the Emirates.

‘Normal people in the world of football don’t talk about results or how many trophies you won, the nice experiences for the managers are what you live.

‘Both of them had incredible success, and Jose at Chelsea. I remember many people said about me, “He wins because of Barcelona and Lionel Messi”, and I had to prove myself in England. OK, we did it.’