Pep Guardiola has claimed he doesn’t feel that the contest between Liverpool and Manchester City has taken on a ‘toxic’ edge.
This comes despite the reality of horrific chants originating from the visitors’ end during the 1-0 defeat over the Sky Blues at the weekend.
“I don’t think so. From our side, I’m pretty sure of that,” the former Bayern Munich boss told reporters (as relayed by Keifer MacDonald at the Echo). “I didn’t hear the chants. If it happened, I’m so sorry [to Liverpool], it doesn’t represent what we are as a team or a club if this happens.”
This follows after the title challengers sent out a briefing alleging that Jurgen Klopp’s pre-match comments on the financial disparity between clubs in England were ‘borderline xenophobic’.
It’s important to note that the Spaniard is the first Manchester City employee to come out and apologise for the horrifying events of Sunday.
Still, it hardly feels fully representative of how the club feel about the situation when the incumbent champions were only mulling over the prospect of an investigation the day after.
A half-hearted response simply won’t change the culture at the club and the willingness of a number of fans to mock the victims of a stadium disaster who remain deeply affected to this day.