Pep Guardiola will not be silenced on Palestine and other humanitarian issues despite criticism telling him to “stick to football.”

Speaking at a press conference last week, the Manchester City manager voiced his anger over the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza, the killing of activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis and the loss of life in Sudan’s civil war.  

“Never, ever in the history of humanity have we had the information in front of our eyes watching more clearly than now?” He said. 

“The genocide in Palestine, what happened in Ukraine, what happened in Russia, what happened all around the world – in Sudan, everywhere.”

He added: “To completely kill thousands of innocent people, it hurts me. It’s no more complicated than that. No more.”

Guardiola said remaining silent in the face of injustice only allows it to continue, arguing that public figures have a responsibility to speak out.

His remarks drew criticism from some quarters, with detractors accusing him of courting controversy and urging him to focus solely on football.

Guardiola pushes back

But Guardiola defended his right to express his views, stressing that his condemnation applies to all conflicts without exception.

“Why should I not express what I feel, just because I am a manager? I don’t agree, but I respect absolutely all opinions,” he said after the criticism. “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.””

“[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.”

The City manager has repeatedly expressed solidarity with Palestinians. At a charity event in Barcelona last month, he addressed the situation in Gaza while wearing a keffiyeh, opening his remarks with “assalamu alaikum”.

“We have left them alone, abandoned,” Guardiola said, condemning what he described as global silence over the suffering of Palestinian children.