Roberto Mancini has claimed Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiriastain acted liked "Judas" by talking to Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti about replacing him as Manchester City manager last February.

The Italian was sacked in May and succeeded by Manuel Pellegrini but Mancini believes that Sorriano, the chief executive, and director of football, Begiristain, had been talking to other managers for months ahead of the decision.

"I know a lot of people in football and I found out afterwards that they were talking to three or four managers in February, March and April. I know they were talking to Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti. And these were the same people I sat down with for dinner before the FA Cup final," Mancini, who is now in charge of Galtasaray, told the Sun. "It was like Judas. I trusted the chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak 100% but not those other two guys, probably he just followed them.

"Some people just don't have the courage to talk face to face. Even Khaldoon did not tell me to my face what was happening. He could not just come up to me and say, 'We did four years together, we won everything, we are happy, but now the job is finished.'

"Instead, they were working behind my back and sacked me two games before the end of the season. I did not even have the chance to say goodbye to the Manchester City fans."