Aleksander Ceferin, the President of UEFA, stated that the Premier League winners should have been punished by the European Football Association for their financial transgressions. This angered Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.
For violating its Financial Fair Play regulations, UEFA barred City from European competition in February 2020 for a two-year period. However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport later overturned the punishment.
Certain charges against City were deemed “not established” by CAS, while other charges were determined to have expired.
Ceferin told the Daily Telegraph on Thursday, “We know we were right,” expressing his continued insistence that his organization was correct. If we didn’t believe we were correct, we wouldn’t make a decision.
The Slovenian spoke while City, accused of 115 violations of the profit and sustainability regulations of their local competition, awaited a Premier League tribunal.
According to Guardiola, Ceferin had disrespected City’s current process with the Premier League by coming forward now.
“As the lawyer that he is, as president of UEFA, he should wait – and after do whatever he wants. He has to respect it and he has to wait. He has a lot of jobs to do at UEFA. A lawyer should respect the procedure. He knows we have the right to defend ourselves,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Erling Haaland, the striker, will not be available for City’s FA Cup fourth-round match against Tottenham on Friday.
Yet after missing nearly two months due to a foot ailment, the Norway striker is very close to making a comeback.
“He is on the verge of coming back. For Friday he is not ready but he is close. The training camp was good, he trained some sessions. The last few days he’s trained but it is not perfect and we will wait a little bit more,” Guardiola said.
After suffering an ankle injury, John Stones is back in the mix, while Manuel Akanji, fellow defender, is still out. After leaving City’s most recent match against Newcastle with a limp, goalie Ederson is also healthy.
Without even managing to score a goal, City has lost all five of their prior visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“That is the reality, (and) shows) how tough it is for us,” Guardiola added, urging the FA Cup holders to break their duck.
