Manchester City were banned from all European competitions including the UEFA Champions League for the next two seasons and was also fined €30 million. They appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) against the ban imposed by UEFA.
Read: Manchester City’s Champions League ban has been lifted
CAS has overturned the ban in favour of Manchester City. The European competitions ban has been lifted and the penalty of €30 million has been reduced to €10 million. City are second in the Premier League table, which means they will be allowed to take part in the Champions League next season.
The FFP ruling of CAS for Manchester City has called in widespread criticism. LaLiga chief Javier Tebas was furious with CAS for overturning the ban imposed on Manchester City by UEFA. He told BBC: “We have to reassess whether the CAS is the appropriate body to which to appeal institutional decisions in football. Switzerland is a country with a great history of arbitration, the CAS is not up to standard.”
Read: UEFA’s reaction to CAS lifting Manchester City’s Champions League ban
Manchester City’s Premier League rival Liverpool’s manager Jurgen Klopp was not happy with the ban being overturned by CAS. He said it was not “a good day for football” as FFP rules are important to protect both teams and football as a whole.
Tottenham Hotspur’s manager Jose Mourinho was on the same page with Klopp. He said the ruling was “disgraceful and a disaster”. His argument was that if Manchester City were innocent they shouldn’t have been fined €10 million also and if they were guilty the two-season European competitions ban should have stood.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has finally spoken on this matter. He told to Sky Sports News: “If they [Klopp and Mourinho] want to talk, I’m here.”
“The sentence from the three independent judges was clear. But, if they want, they know my telephone number, they can call me and I can explain. It’s not a problem at all.
“But I think we don’t have to discuss a lot because the sentence was clear. All the suggestions that we were lying or cheating, it was not like this. We were clean, like they say are.”
There were speculations that if City was banned from European competitions, many top players would have left. So now as the ban has been lifted, Guardiola would feel a sigh of relief and start preparing for the Champions League last-16 second leg against Real Madrid, where they have a 2-1 advantage.
After missing out on the Premier League title to Liverpool, Manchester City now has eyes on the Champions League trophy.
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