“We’ve done absolutely nothing” – Pep Guardiola sympathises with Gaza war victims | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola paid an emotional tribute to those affected by the Gaza war prior to Catalonia’s solidarity friendly win over Palestine this week.

Several high-profile figures have long called for a ceasefire since a Hamas attack on Israel sparked a war in the Middle East and has catapulted into a massacre that has lasted for nearly two years and taken thousands of lives.

US President Donald Trump has taken credit for engineering a ceasefire between Isreal and Sunni Islamist Palestinian militant group Hamas, with an exchange of hostages beginning in the war-torn region last month following extensive negotiations mediated by the Qatar and the United States of America governments.

Guardiola’s tenure at the Etihad Stadium, which commenced in the summer of 2016, has coincided with tensions rising in geopolitically volatile regions in the world, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2021 notably impacting former Manchester City defender Oleksandr Zinchenko in the club’s Premier League run-in in the 2021-22 campaign.

Football is just a sport at the end of the day and the sheer atrocities faced by thousands affected by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza in the last four years have drawn sympathy from leading figures in football and the wider professional sport community.

The United States Security Council has recently given a green light to the second phase of Trump’s peace plan in Gaza, which will legitimise the agreed pact between Israel and Hamas and go one step further in ensuring safety in the war-torn region.

Speaking in the days leading to Catalonia’s 2-1 victory over Palestine in a solidarity friendly Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Guardiola praised the idea of the football game and sent a passionate reminder of his support to the victims of the Gaza war.

“The world has left Palestine alone,” the 54-year-old said, as quoted by RAC1. “We’ve done absolutely nothing. They (Palestinians) are not at fault for being born there.

“We’ve all allowed them (Israel) to destroy an entire people. The damage is already done and it’s irreparable. I can’t imagine a person in this world who could defend the massacres in Gaza. Our children could be there and murdered just for being born there.

“I have very little faith in leaders. They do whatever it takes to stay in power The Catalunya vs Palestine match is more than symbolic. Nowadays everything is known and with this match, Palestinians will see there’s a part of the world that thinks of them.

“The symbolism helps to raise awareness, but behind it there has to be something that moves. There’s always a reason to demonstrate, in this case it’s a football match. It’s symbolic, but it’s better that Palestinians can think that for a while we’re there and the stadium brings joy.”

Guardiola has received huge praise amongst the wider football community for his strong stance on the atrocities in Gaza, though the Manchester City manager will equally and inevitably attract hatred and vile abuse from certain quarters of society for offering sympathy and hope to victims of a war.