Football
Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent 4y

La Liga's Javier Tebas: 'Everyone knows' Manchester City broke FFP rules

La Liga chief Javier Tebas has stated "everyone knows" Manchester City breached UEFA's financial fair play rules after Pep Guardiola accused him of being jealous of the Premier League.

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In an exclusive interview with ESPN's Fernando Palomo, Tebas also branded the Court of Arbitration for Sport "not up to standard" when it overturned City's two-year Champions League ban on Monday.

"We all know what City do," Tebas said. "When they were punished [by UEFA originally], there was no surprise among the majority of us involved in European football."

City were originally banned from Europe for two seasons by UEFA. They were also fined €30 million, although CAS reduced it to €10m as part of Monday's ruling.

City coach Guardiola responded to City's critics on Tuesday, saying the club deserves an apology, but Tebas insists justice has not been done.

"I don't want to say [people were] happy, but at last there was a sense of justice against these big state-owned clubs, the other being Paris Saint-Germain," Tebas said.

Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Tottenham's Jose Mourinho also criticised the decision to overturn City's ban. Klopp said the ruling was "not a good day for football," while Mourinho called it "disgraceful."

Tebas added: "In contrast, when the CAS reversed the decision, there were protests -- from Klopp, Mourinho -- because we all know they're trying to find a way around the FFP rules. As Klopp said, it was a bad day for football."

After claiming Tebas was envious of English football, Guardiola assured the La Liga chief that City had acted "properly" and were rightfully exonerated.

Tebas continues to dispute that claim, alleging the Premier League side have used fictitious sponsors and inflated naming-rights deals to boost their income to allow them to spend big in the transfer market.

"City will be in the Champions League next season because the CAS did things badly, not because City have done things properly," he added.

"I would like to see the CAS's final resolution. When it's released and I read it, I will say what I am convinced about to Guardiola, that they haven't done things properly. They've done things badly at the CAS.

"City, in the last five years, along with PSG, are the club that have spent the most. City haven't signed with their own resources, like Manchester United do, who bring in money through television or sponsors. They sign with petrodollars, with money obtained through oil by the [owners in the] United Arab Emirates.

"The state-owned clubs in Europe do what they want. Fictitious sponsors, naming rights [for stadiums] in the case of Man City. The Etihad Stadium is not worth [what is paid for it] and that creates a very dangerous economic situation for us."

A Manchester City statement on Monday read: "Whilst Manchester City and its legal advisors are yet to review the full ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the Club welcomes the implications of today's ruling as a validation of the Club's position and the body of evidence that it was able to present. The Club wishes to thank the panel members for their diligence and the due process that they administered."

Asked if City's win at the CAS was a death knell for FFP, Tebas said: "The CAS is dead. I've had doubts about the CAS for many years, not just because of this resolution, but for many more. It's the opposite of what it should be; there's no transparency."

After lifting the ban, the CAS said that most of the alleged breaches were either not established or time-bound, meaning they happened longer than five years ago, which is UEFA's own time limit on infractions eligible for punishment.

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