Manchester City captain Ruben Dias said on Tuesday that "people don't like us winning and we love winning," strongly defending his club's boisterous celebrations after beating Liverpool, despite being found guilty of a series of breaches of the English Premier League's financial rules.
City were jeered throughout their 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield last week, a victory that kept them at the top of the league, three points ahead of defending champions Arsenal, after securing six wins in six matches.
That was City's first match since being found guilty of more than 100 charges related to breaches of the league's Financial Fair Play rules.
City has appealed the verdict, so every match the team plays now takes place amidst an atmosphere of great uncertainty.
Enzo Maresca's team returns to European competition on Wednesday when they host French champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Both clubs are backed by wealthy Gulf owners, with City supported by the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, while Paris Saint-Germain is funded by the Qatari state.
Dias said, "I really feel I am speaking for the whole group, we trust the club," despite City being found guilty of 34 charges related to failure to cooperate with the league's investigations.
The Portuguese added, "We are very calm and very focused on enjoying our football. We know the team we have, we want to make the most of it, and we want to win, and that is the only thing on our minds."
He continued, "If there is more or less noise, or whatever the reason for that noise, at the end of the day it remains the same, just as it was before, because people don't like us winning and we love winning."
City's sanction was announced during the international break, when many of its players were with their national teams away from the Etihad Stadium.
Dias said: "When the news came out, we felt we should have a conversation as soon as we returned. We did that to make sure everyone was on the same page and that everyone was mentally at ease, and then we moved on."
He continued, "Obviously it happened at a time when we weren't together, but we communicated quickly with each other, and we soon found calm and moved forward."
