Pep Guardiola mural defaced with 'MUFC' graffiti near the Etihad is cleaned up

A Pep Guardiola mural near City's Etihad stadium has been restored after it was defaced with 'MUFC' graffiti hours after being unveiled. The artwork was 'mindlessly vandalised' following three days of hard work by artist Mr Meana.

"As street artists, we're used to our work being temporary, but we feel so bad for the fans," he said as he set about fixing the mural on the side of a Beswick house in the shadow of the Blues' home.

The artwork, created by Murwalls, saw people queuing on Ashton New Road to see it. However, around 10.30pm on Wednesday, black and white paint was thrown onto the wall, with 'MUFC' sprayed with green paint.

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However, earlier today the mural was lovingly restored to it's former glory.

Lesley Kelly, 63, who owns the house on Viking Street previously said: "It just makes me so angry. It's vandalism.

"My brothers are United fans, but they thought it was amazing. Everyone can appreciate what Pep has done and that this is a City area right next to the stadium. It's just so childish and mindless to do this.

"It looks like an adult's done this given how high the paint was thrown. What sort of message does this send to kids? I was so happy when this was done, it's beautiful, but now I'm just so angry.

"I wanted to use it to do work with MIND, the mental health charity, and to do a charity collection outside on derby day, it's just so sad. People always talk of putting things in place to brighten up the area which this definitely did but then this happens, it's so frustrating."

MurWalls, founded by its CEO Mark Silver in 2019, brings together some of the country's best street artists and works