The manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, has insisted that the failed European Super League is a closed chapter. This contradicts the assertion of Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez who insisted that the project is not dead.
The European Super League was seen as a project that would have rival the UEFA Champions League and probably reduce the value of the prestigious European league. But that might not happen anytime soon as 10 of the 12 clubs that signed up for the controversial league have withdrawn from it.
One of the 12 clubs was Manchester City. The club was one of the six Premier League clubs – Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City that would have constituted the pioneering clubs for the league. However, the six clubs stepped down from the plan on Tuesday due to pressure from fans, pundits, football bodies, and administrators.
The withdrawal of the 6 clubs encouraged AC Milan, Inter Milan, and Atletico Madrid to abandon the plan. This development forced the Chairman of Juventus Andrea Agnelli, who is one of the brains behind the planned league, to admit that the proposed European Super League cannot go on as planned.
If the league had gone on as planned, it was feared that it would have forced the Premier League, La Liga, and Serie A to be disjointed in such a way that the value of the domestic leagues would drastically reduce. It would have seen the participatory clubs play against themselves every season without relegation nor promotion.
After the 2-1 win against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Wednesday, Pep Guardiola of Manchester City who is on the verge of winning the league title this season argued that the chapter of the European League was over.
“As a club, we accept and learn and focus on the reason why we’re here,” Pep Guardiola said.
“It’s a chapter which is over, a closed chapter. They [the owners] don’t need to apologize [to me], I know them, I know how they are.”
Club statement.https://t.co/GeNQZn8091
— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 20, 2021
Meanwhile, it was reported that some fans of Manchester United stormed the club’s training ground, Carrington, on Thursday morning to protest against the owners of the club, the Glazers family, for signing up for the European Super League.
They were particularly not happy that the Glazers family signed up for the controversial league and Joel Glazer was unveiled as the vice-chairman of the league.
It was reported that the protesters blocked the entrance to the club’s training ground after gaining access to the training pitch of the club’s senior team.
It took the intervention of the club’s coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and some members of the club’s squad, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, and Nemanja Matic, for the protesters to disperse.
