Pep Guardiola has admitted he was complicit in European football’s culture of spying while at Barcelona and Bayern Munich but insisted it was not a practice he would be repeating in England with Manchester City.

The FA and Football League have launched investigations into the Leeds United spying scandal after the club’s manager, Marcelo Bielsa, admitted he was responsible for sending a member of his staff to watch Derby County train 24 hours before their Championship game at Elland Road.

Bielsa subsequently admitted to spying on all of Leeds’ Championship rivals this season during an extraordinary 70 minute press conference this week, when the Argentine offered a PowerPoint presentation to journalists detailing the level of opposition analysis he undertakes.

Guardiola said he had no plans to send City staff on such covert reconnaissance missions but, defending his friend and mentor, the Catalan supported Bielsa’s claims that spying was an accepted practice on the continent and acknowledged it happened on his watch at Barcelona and Bayern.

“In other countries everybody does that,” Guardiola said of spying ahead of City’s game away to bottom club Huddersfield Town on Sunday. “It is the culture of the clubs. It was part of the club. Not because you said, ‘You have to do it’. It is the leagues.