Pep Guardiola began his press conference ahead of Manchester City's clash with Arsenal on Wednesday night with an apology to Liverpool hero Steven Gerrard.
City head to north London tomorrow night hoping to close the three-point gap to league leaders Arsenal, but before the usual injury questions and team news updates, the Catalan took a minute to address something he recently said about Gerrard.
The Sporting News takes a look at exactly what Guardiola said about Gerrard and why the former Barcelona boss admitted to being "ashamed" of his actions.
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What did Pep Guardiola say about Steven Gerrard?
During last week's press conference, the manager's first since City were charged by the Premier League for 115 alleged breaches of the competition's financial rules, Guardiola came out with a passionate defence of his club.
In the process, he cited Gerrard's infamous slip against Chelsea that had a major impact on City’s 2013/14 title triumph, when offering reasons not to strip titles from City should the club be found guilty of any charges brought against them.
The former Liverpool captain's slip came in April 2014 that allowed Demba Ba to run through and score in Chelsea’s 2-0 win. That was the third-to-last match of the season that went on to derail Liverpool's quest for the title.
Last Friday, Guardiola said: "Come on, those moments belong to us. They absolutely belong to us, regardless of the sentence they belong to us. The goal from Sergio Agüero, when [Mario] Balotelli slipped?
"I don’t know if we are responsible for Steven Gerrard slipping at Anfield. Was that our fault? I have respect for Steven Gerrard – but that moment belongs to us.
"The moments that we lived these years together, the Premier League will decide. But I know what we won and the way we won it. I know the effort we put in."
Pep Guardiola has apologised for the "unnecessary" and "stupid" comments he made towards Steven Gerrard.pic.twitter.com/HzhCpUCkx9
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 14, 2023
Pep Guardiola's apology to Steven Gerrard
On February 14, before fielding any questions Guardiola began his briefing by saying: "I apologise to Steven Gerrard for my unnecessary and stupid comments I said last time about him.
"He knows how I admire him and his career, what he has done for this country where I'm living and training. I am ashamed of myself for what I said because he doesn't deserve it.
"I truly believe in my comments in my previous press conference to defend my club but I didn't represent my club well putting his name in these stupid comments.
"I apologised to him personally but I have to do it here as well. I'm so sorry for him, for Alex his wife, kids, family because it was stupid."