The president of Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, also known as La Liga, Javier Tebas has hit back at Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola for saying the club deserves an apology after its two-year Champions League ban was upturned by the Court of Arbitration or Sports (CAS).
Man City got a favourable judgment from CAS on Monday after appealing the ban slammed on them by UEFA for breaching the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rule. The court ruled that City should pay a fine of €10 million for failing to assist UEFA in its investigations.
It would have been a massive financial loss for the club if they failed to participate in the European club’s competition. They were touted to be about losing over €150 million should the ban had been upheld.
Guardiola while reacting to Tebas’ comment over the verdict had said that the La Liga boss is jealous of his team.
Speaking with reporters, Guardiola said: Maybe next time I’ll ask him what court and judges we should stand before. He should be worried about La Liga and focus on that.”
There is a foul play in Manchester City judgement – Tebas
Teba, who is among City’s most vocal critics in a quick response to Guardiola’s comment questioned the validity of CAS’ judgement and suggesting that there was further foul play on City’s part.
“Manchester City will be in the Champions League next season not because they have acted correctly, but rather because CAS is wrong.
“In fact, the CAS has fined them €10m, that is not just for the sake of it. From what I’ve read I gather it is because they didn’t cooperate with UEFA. Why is that?
“Have City hidden documentation? I would like to read the final ruling now if I can. Just as we still have not been able to read PSG’s final ruling from CAS, when a lot of time has passed and it is still not available.”
He further stated that as soon as he is able t read the judgement, he will tell Guardiola that he is convinced that Manchester City has not acted right.
He further lambasted CAS, saying the Switzerland-based tribunal had lost its legitimacy.
“CAS is not fit to hand down rulings in the football industry. We all know what City do! Everyone in football knows what they do.
“In fact, when the punishment first reached them nobody in European football was surprised. Quite the contrary. I won’t say it was celebrated, but some people did come out and say at least justice has been served to the state-run clubs.
“Instead, after the CAS ruling, there have been protests from Klopp, Mourinho… Everyone knows they tried to dodge financial fair play.
“CAS is dead. Its rulings have been doubtful for a long time. There is no transparency and a lot of the time, looking at the judges named, you know where their ruling is headed.
“Switzerland has great prestige in arbitration and the CAS does it no favours.”
