Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says the clubs in the Premier League want to see his team sanctioned for alleged breaches of financial regulations.
The hearing into the 115 charges levelled at City will begin on Monday, 19 months after the Premier League concluded a four-year investigation that determined rules had been breached.
The trial was set to start in November but has now been brought forward, with City eager to prove their innocence and clear themselves of any wrongdoing.
City say their defence contains a “comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence”, but the eight-time Premier League champions feel their rivals are waiting for them to be punished.
La Liga president Javier Tebas, a long-term critic of City who has openly accused the club of “financial doping”, suggested as much when he told Spanish news outlet Mundo Deportivo that he had “spoken with many Premier League clubs and most of them understand that City should be sanctioned.”
Speaking to the media at his press conference on Friday, Guardiola reiterated his belief that City are innocent, but admitted the feeling is not shared by his Premier League adversaries.
“For the first time I agree with Tebas,” the Spaniard said. “All the Premier League teams want us to be sanctioned, that is for sure.
“But that’s why I say to Mr Tebas and the Premier League teams, wait for the independent panel”.
“Justice is there in a modern democracy. It’s not more complicated than that.
“I don’t know if he is a lawyer or the rest of the Premier League teams are lawyers, so I ask for that. It happened with Uefa.
“We believe we have not done anything wrong.”
The hearing is scheduled to last ten weeks, to which Guardiola said: “It starts soon and hopefully finishes soon. An independent panel will decide and I am looking forward to the decision.
“I’m happy it’s starting on Monday. I know there will be more rumours, new specialists about the sentences. We’re going to see.
I know what people are looking forward to, what they expect, I know, what I read for many, many years”.
“Everybody is innocent until guilt is proven. So we’ll see.”
What we know
- Hearing into 115 charges levelled at Man City to begin on Monday
- Eight-time Premier League winners deny any wrongdoing
- Guardiola says Premier League teams want City to be found guilty.