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Pep Guardiola has hit out at UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin for his comments on the Manchester City case. He claims that Ceferin is disrespecting the process and the ruling from CAS.
In 2020, Manchester City were banned from the UEFA Champions League for two years, along with a €30m fine, for falsely inflating sponsorship revenues between 2012 and 2016. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the decision, reducing the fine to €10 million.
Despite the ruling, Ceferin recently said that the club was rightly banned.
"We know we were right. We wouldn't decide if we didn't think we were right," he said (via The Telegraph).
Speaking at the press conference ahead of the FA Cup clash against Tottenham, Guardiola was quizzed about the comments from the UEFA president. The Spanish manager stood by his club, saying that they won the case and had the right to defend themselves. He said (via Goal.com):
“As a lawyer, he should wait, and after he can do whatever he wants. Whatever sentence there is about Uefa, he has to respect it. He has a lot to do at Uefa. A lawyer should respect the procedure. He knows we have the right to defend ourselves.”
What did UEFA President say about Manchester City
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has insisted that they were right to ban Manchester City from the Champions League. He believes they had enough proof against the Premier League club but were unable to prove it in court.
He told The Telegraph in an interview:
“As a trial lawyer for 25 years, I know that, sometimes, you win a case that you are sure you will lose. And, sometimes, you lose a case when you’re sure … You just simply have to respect in a serious democracy the decision of the court. I don’t want to speak about the case in England. But I trust that the decision of our independent body was correct. I didn’t enter into this decision.”
He added:
“They want to know what’s going on and what are the consequences but I don’t want to enter into this concrete process because I don’t know what the Premier League is dealing with. I really don’t want to criticize, or something like that. It wouldn’t be fair.”
Manchester City are facing 115 charges from the Premier League and a date is set to be announced for the hearing.
