Enzo Maresca has said Manchester City's hierarchy have the club's "complete trust" ahead of Sunday's Premier League trip to Liverpool, despite the club being found guilty on all charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial rules.
On September 30, the Premier League confirmed that City had been found guilty on all charges relating to breaches of its financial regulations between 2009/10 and 2017/18. It was revealed that City had artificially inflated revenue by more than £900million through so-called 'sham' sponsorship deals.
City, however, have strongly denied any wrongdoing and lodged an appeal against the ruling on October 1. In an official statement, the club insisted they are "innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League" and say they have "a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence" to back their position.
Maresca's response to the verdict
Despite the noise surrounding City, Maresca has maintained that his players are "excited" and raring to go ahead of their first fixture since the guilty verdict was handed down, as they head to Anfield on Sunday.
"Personally I'm very calm to be honest," Maresca told City's website. "The club has been quite clear. We trust completely the club."
"We understand the noise but the focus for us is just what we can control and we can control just the football side. The feeling is fantastic, to be honest. The players are excited for the next two games. But especially they are excited because in this moment we are top of the league."
Players focused on Liverpool
"The players are just focused on that. They know what we can control is the football side – they are not worried at all about different things.
"They know their profession and they know that the noise is there but they don't care too much about the noise. They are just focused in this moment on how we can bear Liverpool and how, together with the fans, we can try to win in Anfield."
City's international players, including Erling Haaland and Elliot Anderson, returned to the training ground on Thursday as the club gear up to resume competitive action.
Upcoming fixtures
It emerged earlier this week that Maresca had planned to address his squad on their return to City following the verdict, which was published while the majority of players were away on international duty.
The Italian is understood to have urged his players not to allow the off-field turmoil to derail their focus and attention as their season pushes forward. They face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday before welcoming Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League just three days later, with Pep Guardiola expected to be in the stands.
"First of all, Anfield away, we're going to bring our passion, we're going to bring our gameplan," Maresca added, ahead of the trip to Merseyside. "But for sure we need their voice, their passion. In the last two days I watched last year's game at Anfield away and the celebration at the end was fantastic.
"We need to be all together. I said many times the reason why this organisation in the last 15 years was top was because from the owner, the CEO, the sporting director, the manager, players, fans, they are all on the same page. And this is fantastic."
