Pep Guardiola laments sick chants about late Sir Bobby Charlton from Man City fans – who have now been banned – saying, ‘they don’t represent us’ and ‘alcohol makes people do bad things’

Pep Guardiola heads into Sunday’s emotionally charged Manchester derby at Old Trafford by saying the two banned Manchester City supporters ‘do not represent us’.

City suspended the fans, who are both minors, after they were filmed mocking the death of Manchester United legend Sir Bobby Charlton last weekend.

United will hold a minute’s applause before kick-off and Guardiola is expecting his travelling supporters to keep up their tradition of respecting their rivals.

‘They don’t represent us,’ Guardiola said. ‘Alcohol makes bad things in people. Mike Summerbee went to Old Trafford to sign the book, he represents us.

‘We have huge respect for United, especially for the iconic figures like Sir Bobby Charlton. We’ve proven it, losing or winning these years. Tomorrow will be part of our condolences. We will be there.

‘It’s a good rivalry. Each club respects the other. It’s my eighth season here and no big issues happened. We won games, we lost games. 

‘The FA Cup final was special because we wanted to win because our side it was so important to arrive in Istanbul to do what we have done.’

United delivered a commemorative page to the City base on Friday for club officials to pen their own tributes.

Guardiola has won six times at Old Trafford in all competitions during his eight seasons in England and another on Sunday would open up a nine-point gap between the two after just 10 games.

‘When I was at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and I travelled to England to play at Old Trafford and it was always special,’ the City boss added.

‘It’s a special place and here it is special for our fans. But at the end it is just a football game, not like an FA Cup final or one of the last fixtures of the season where winning or losing can define winning the league or not.

‘There are still 87 points to play so it is another game and we have to be focused on what we have to do to beat them.

‘I want to see our mentality on Sunday. We won a lot. It’s not about that, I want to see my team in big scenarios like it is. The right mentality, the right way.’