Pep Guardiola (51) always defends Manchester City when there are allegations of financial violations. Now he is revealing that he is very tough behind the scenes.

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The Manchester City manager now claims he threatened to quit if the owners lied to him about breaching Financial Fair Play regulations.

– Every word I say in all my press conferences is because I really believe it, said Guardiola.

On Saturday night, the part of Friday’s press conference that was subject to the blocking deadline came.

There he said that in a meeting with the owners of the Abu Dhabi Group he demanded to know the truth about whether Manchester City had cheated with the rules.

UEFA fined the club around 300 million kroner, but Manchester City appealed and won at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

– If I defend people and clubs, it’s because I work with them. When I was asked about the suspicions and whether our people had done anything, I asked them to tell the truth, said Guardiola, and continued:

– I said to them: «If you lie to me, I will not be here the next day. I’m leaving, and you won’t be my friend anymore,’ but I saw them and believed one hundred percent in them from day one. That’s why I defend the club.

Financial Fair Play is a set of rules that will prevent Europe’s big clubs from spending more money than they receive. In this way, wealthy owners will not be able to pump unlimited money into the coffers of the club from their own pockets.

However, documents from Football Leaks, made available to VG by the EIC network of German magazine Der Spiegel, suggest that clubs such as Manchester City and PSG use creative solutions:

By artificially inflating their own sponsorship agreement, they can also spend more money without breaking the rules.

But I CAS Two of the three referees ruled that some of the allegations fell within the five-year curtailment period, and that UEFA could not present evidence beyond what Spiegel and his EIC partners, including VG, had published.

– What CAS said means a lot to us. That puts an end to all suspicion. Nine teams in the Premier League want to exclude Manchester City from the European tournament. “They push, and I know who they are, so I love that CAS is doing what they are doing, and they are doing it right,” Guardiola said.

On Sunday afternoon, Manchester City face up-and-coming Newcastle, who are also accused of cutting corners to the top by pumping money into the club.

Newcastle is owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the term “sports laundering” is used to describe Saudi Arabia’s efforts to divert attention from human rights abuses through sport. The fund is managed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Liverpool’s draw against Tottenham means that Manchester City have a strong lead in the race for league gold.

If they pick up ten points in last four games against Newcastle, Wolves, West Ham and Aston Villa, they will win the league regardless of what Liverpool did in their last three games.