Porto have sensationally released a newsletter slamming Manchester City, and the war of words now extends to beyond their two managers.
City were held to a goalless draw in Portugal – a result that confirmed their place in the last-16 of the competition as group winners. It also guaranteed Porto’s place in the next round as runners-up too.
However, the two group fixtures between the pair have been tetchy affairs and the animosity has only developed following Tuesday night’s stalemate.
Bernardo Silva (left) and Pep Guardiola have come under criticism from Porto in a newsletter
Fernandinho (left) has also come under-fire by the Portuguese giants in a damning assessment
The Portuguese giants have blasted City midfielder Fernandinho for lacking ‘class or insight’ while Bernardo Silva and Pep Guardiola are also in the firing line.
As detailed by A Bola, Porto have hit back at Fernandinho after he had critcised them for diving a lot during Tuesday’s match.
Those accusations did not sit well with Porto, who slammed the Brazilian, adding that he was lucky to not be sent off.
‘There should have been a red card given to Fernandinho, who despite being 35 is a clear example that football money counts a lot, but it doesn’t buy class or notion.’
However, the club were the most damning commenting about Silva as they referenced his one-game ban for a racist tweet last year.
Porto claim that Fernandinho was lucky not to be sent off during Tuesday night’s goalless draw
In November 2019, Silva was banned for one match and fined £50,000 after an FA commission accepted he ‘did not intend’ a tweet about team-mate Benjamin Mendy to be ‘racist’.
Silva compared Mendy to the character on a packet of Conguitos – a chocolate brand available in Spain and Portugal.
Silva deleted the post 46 minutes after he published it before tweeting: ‘Can’t even joke with a friend these days.’
However, Porto have dragged that up in the newsletter by describing him as someone ‘known internationally for having been convicted of racism’.
And detailing City’s display at the Estadio do Dragao, Porto branded Guardiola and his team as ‘lucky’.
Last November, Silva was fined £50,000 & banned for a game for a tweet to Benjamin Mendy
Silva compared his Manchester City team-mate to the character on a packet of Conguitos
‘The coach and players – who also struggled to cope with the result – should even be grateful for the luck they had with refereeing again. After the scandals of the game in England, this time a penalty was missed for Ederson’s more than evident foul on Otavio.’
Manchester City won the reverse fixture 3-1 in October, but there was controversy over the penalty scored by Sergio Aguero, as VAR chose not to intervene despite a possible foul by Ilkay Gundogan in the build-up to a foul on Raheem Sterling. Gundogan also scored City’s third goal from a free-kick which Porto argued should not have been given.
The club’s damning newsletter comes just hours after Porto manager Sergio Conceicao reignited his war of words with Guardiola in his post-match press conference – goading him for not being able to beat his side, despite having the greater resources.
Asked if he thinks Guardiola would be unhappy with the draw, Conceicao quipped back in a flash interview with ELEVEN: ‘I would be too if I couldn’t win with the team I have and the budget I have.’
The pair do not see eye-to-eye after Conceicao claimed that Guardiola applies undue pressure on officials.
Porto manager Sergio Conceicao mocked Guardiola for failing to beat his side on Tuesday
In the reverse fixture in October, Conceicao was incensed by Guardiola’s ‘extremely unpleasant behaviour’ on the touchline.
The pair repeatedly clashed, with Guardiola accused of ‘speaking about our country using ugly words’ during spats between the two benches.
‘I don’t agree with him, it’s not true,’ Guardiola hit back during his pre-match press conference on Monday. ‘We didn’t pressure the referee, we are not a team who do this kind of thing. It’s not a part of who we are.
‘The five years we are here – and before then in Germany or Spain – our behaviour speaks for itself.’
Guardiola makes his point to Conceicao during Manchester City’s 3-1 win vs Porto in October
The two managers argued repeatedly during the game at the Etihad Stadium with Conceicao accusing Guardiola of putting pressure on officials with his comments