Manchester City have hit back at incendiary Porto claims about individual players and the manager. The Portuguese club did not react well to losing last month's meeting at the Etihad, with coach Sergio Conceicao accusing Pep Guardiola of trying to influence referees after the game before describing lifetime Benfica fan Bernardo Silva as "childish" for having said he particularly enjoyed the 3-1 victory. And while the Porto boss chose not to add too much fuel to the fire after the return fixture, a newsletter put out by the club following the 0-0 draw that confirmed their qualification for the knockout stages took further shots: according to the bulletin, City were lucky with refereeing decisions, did not respond well to the result, 'classless' Fernandinho should have been sent off, while Bernardo was alluded to as "known internationally for having been convicted of racism". "This is not the first time that Porto have reacted badly in circumstances like this," a club spokesperson said. "On this occasion it is the ill-judged and targeted criticism of some of our individual players and indeed our manager, which we wholly reject. In 2012, the last season we encountered them, it was the denial by the club of clear racist behaviour of their fans for which they were investigated and fined. In this context, this latest outburst is almost as surprising as it is disappointing."
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