Pep Guardiola has insisted that he will not remain silent about humanitarian issues after he was told to stick to football.
The Manchester City manager had given an impassioned press conference on Tuesday in which he expressed his anger about the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza and the loss of life in the civil war in Sudan.
He was then criticised by the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region [JRC] who told him to “focus on football” and called his comments “controversial”.
But Guardiola disagreed by saying he was simply expressing his hurt at the deaths of innocent people anywhere.
He added: “To be honest, I didn’t say anything special. I don’t feel that.
“Why should I not express what I feel, just because I am a manager? I don’t agree but I respect absolutely all opinions. What I said basically is how many conflicts are there right now all around the world? How many? A lot – I condemn all of them.
“If innocent people are [being] killed, I condemn them all and not putting a selection on one being [more] important than the other – not this country is [more important] than the other one. If you don’t understand my message it’s fine. I cannot say otherwise.”
Guardiola believes that just because he operates in one field, he is entitled to express views on other issues.
“OK, you focus on being a journalist and you cannot talk about the economy, because you are not an economic journalist?” he countered.
“[Being] involved in football, don’t talk about that or that or that. That’s why the world remains silent, that is what the world wants, right? Be silent, don’t say anything. I think it is completely the opposite but anyway, it is what it is.”
