Barcelona's Cardoner denies Guardiola’s accusations

The Director responded to the ex-coach’s outburst and says he’s sure he will speak to Rosell to clear up the situation.

Jordi Cardoner, Barcelona vicepresident, spoke to sports newspaper ‘Mundo Deportivo’ about current Bayern and ex-Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola’s statements where he said: “This year the line has been crossed too many times. They used Tito’s illness to hurt me. I will never forget that. Because I went to see Tito in New York and if I haven’t seen him more, it’s because it wasn’t possible, not because I didn’t want to”.

Cardoner said that he was very surprised when he heard the statements: “I heard a clip on the radio and later I saw the whole thing and I didn’t understand it. I guess there will be an explanation about what he’s said because the relationship with us, and I’m not just talking about myself, but also about the president, has always been good. We’ve never used Tito’s illness against him and anyone who did so would be a pretty horrible person”.

The vice-president also said that when Guardiola announced he was leaving the club there was only respect. “As Barcelona fans we didn’t understand it, because we would have preferred him to carry on, but we respected his decision... I’m sure he’s received incorrect information and I guess he’ll speak to the President to sort it all out”.

Talking about Pep’s departure Cardoner denied that he left because of a poor relationship between the coach and the President: “I think the reasons he gave when he left were the real ones. We were all disappointed, because it was hard to take that the person who had done so much for Barcelona was leaving, but what we did do was respect the decision. From that point on things are hard to understand. It would be better for him to explain it, but I hope it doesn’t take on any more importance because the club has to be bigger than these things”.

In closing, and to pour oil on troubled waters, Cardoner added that “Pep should be a hero of ‘barcelonismo’ forever”.