Pep Guardiola apologises to Steven Gerrard, ‘his kids, wife and family’ for ‘stupid comments’

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has apologised for making ‘unnecessary and stupid comments’ about Steven Gerrard.

Guardiola referenced Gerrard on Friday morning, shortly after Manchester City had been charged with allegedly breaching 115 of the Premier League’s financial rules.

Guardiola referred to the time when Gerrard lost his footing and allowed Demba Ba to score at Anfield when defending City’s spending during their title winning season in 2014. 

However, Guardiola has now apoligised to Gerrard for his comments – claiming the former Liverpool captain ‘didn’t deserve it’ and that he was ‘ashamed’ of himself for degrading the 42-year-old. 

Guardiola’s initial comments were: ‘I don’t know if we are responsible for Steven Gerrard slipping. You know that situation at Anfield? I didn’t want it out of respect for Steven Gerrard, but it’s our fault?’.

City boss Pep Guardiola has apologised for making ‘stupid comments’ about Steven Gerrard 

The Manchester City boss referenced Steven Gerrard’s most infamous moment in his argument against the club having their titles retrospectively stripped

Gerrard’s error allowed Demba Ba in to score for Chelsea with Liverpool going on to lose 2-0

However, he apoligised to Gerrard during his press conference ahead of Wednesday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal.  

The City manager said: ‘I apologise to Steven Gerrard for my unnecessary and stupid comments I said last time about him. I am ashamed of myself, because he doesn’t deserve it.’ 

City were served with Premier League legal papers on Monday last week, announcing charges over alleged financial rule breaches which could lead to a points deduction or expulsion from the top flight. 

The charges against the reigning champions relate to financial information regarding revenue, details of manager and player remuneration, UEFA regulations, profitability and sustainability and co-operation with Premier League investigations. 

A statement from the league said alleged breaches were committed from September 2009 to the 2017-18 season and will be referred to an independent commission. 

It adds that the club is alleged to have breached league rules requiring provision ‘in utmost good faith’ of ‘accurate financial information that gives a true and fair view of the club’s financial position’.

Fans took to social media shortly after the new was announced to calls for Manchester City to have their titles stripped. However, Guardiola disagreed and referenced Gerrard’s slip when defending his team.  

Gerrard’s slip saw Demba Ba open the scoring for Chelsea at Anfield in late April 2014, with Liverpool a matter of games away from lifting their first Premier League title. 

Guardiola’s won four league titles since joining City and said the moments belong to the club

If found guilty of the recent charges, City could face a points deduction or expulsion

Having lost 2-0 to Chelsea, they travelled to Crystal Palace where they surrendered a three-goal lead to draw 3-3, leaving City to capitalise and win the league.

The City boss added that their ‘moments’, both good and bad, belong to them as a club and cannot be stripped, ‘regardless of the sentence’.

‘Those moments belong to us regardless of the sentence,’ he said. ‘The goal from [Sergio] Aguero [2012], the slip from Steven Gerrard at Anfield [2014]. Was that our fault?

‘The Premier League will decide but I know the effort we put in, what we won and the way we won it. If something happened in 2009 or 2010, it is not going to change one second. We lived these moments together for years.’