Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has spoken out in defence of Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney.
The 31-year-old could be stripped of the Three Lions' captaincy by Gareth Southgate because ofphotos, which show the star in a drunken stupor, were put in circulation after The Sun published them.
Wayne Rooney apologises after pictures emerged of him socializing and "drunk" in the early hours of Sunday morning. pic.twitter.com/CQUKbj32nq
Rooney has since offered an apology, despite not really doing anything wrong, but still stands to lose the England armband.
Guardiola refused to criticise the player when asked for his thoughts on the matter, claiming that he was guilty of pretty much the same back in his playing days.
I was an international player during my time as a player and sometimes I was drunk as well,� he said, speaking in his Friday presser (via Goal). I was lucky there were no pictures. You [journalists] have drunk as well. I was responsible, you are responsible, Wayne is responsible as well.
I don't think the Association has to be responsible about that. We are people, we are old enough to take our responsibilities. But it's the private life. You have to respect absolutely what other people do.�
I don't like when people comment about my private life, I will not comment about the private life of other people. I have a lot of respect for Wayne Rooney, about his career, as a human being. Private life is the private life, I don't have comments about that.
The fact that Rooney has to apologise for being drunk on his night off is a joke. The media in this country are pathetic is he not a human?
I am responsible for what I do, it's not the responsibility of Manchester City.�
The Spaniard also revealed that all of his players had returned from international duty in good health, but thatsome of them were feeling fatigued.
All the players came back good, fit. The players who played 90 minutes are tired, especially the South American players, but that is normal and tomorrow we are going to decide."