La Liga president, Javier Tebas has further hit out at Manchester City over their ongoing case involving the Premier League and their 115 charges.
The Spanish football official has been a long-standing critic of the four-time successive Premier League champions’ operation over the years, in a stance that has led to direct backlash from leading figures within the Etihad Stadium.
In 2019, Manchester City’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was left deeply offended by comments from Tebas, who claimed that clubs like City and Paris Saint-Germain were “playthings of a state” and should be kicked out of the Champions League.
Mubarak responded during a club interview, “I think there’s something deeply wrong in bringing ethnicity into the conversation. This is just ugly, the way he is combining teams because of ethnicity. I find that very disturbing, to be honest.”
Now, the likes of Khaldoon Al Mubarak within Manchester City have more to digest from Javier Tebas, who is stoking the fire further this week as the Premier League champions’ hearing in front of an independent commission over their 115 charges begins.
Speaking exclusively to GIVEMESPORT’s Ben Jacobs this week, whilst attenting the Thinking Football Summit in Porto, the La Liga boss insisted that City should be treated like any other club by the independent commission.
“The Premier League shouldn’t give in to pressure, right? Manchester City is just another club, and when you lead an association, you have to act. The Premier League shouldn’t differentiate between big or small, or important and ‘non-important’, clubs,” said Tebas.
“Manchester City is a member of the association that has committed irregularities and should receive the sanction it deserves. If not, the competition’s authority will be lost.”
Tebas continued by insisting that “everyone knows” how Manchester City have acted in recent years, and claims that most of the Premier League clubs believe the reigning top-flight champions should be sanctioned.
“There are more than 115 accusations. I don’t know everything, but I know what happened regarding Manchester City’s UEFA case, and quite well. Let’s not forget UEFA sanctioned City by not allowing them to compete in the Champions League,” Tebas said.
“Then CAS, in a very controversial decision, acquitted them instead of accusing them. I would say that was one of the biggest failures in the history of CAS on a legal issue. It was demonstrated [by UEFA] that they should have been sanctioned and some of those charges are now being pursued by the Premier League.
“I can tell you that everyone knows how City has acted in recent years. I hope it’s just a matter of evidence, and that the Premier League know how to prove it well, because the facts are clear. I have spoken with many Premier League clubs and most understand City should be sanctioned.”
The idea that most Premier League clubs believe Manchester City should be sanctioned is a position that Etihad Stadium head coach Pep Guardiola agrees with, after the Catalan was asked for his take on earlier comments from Javier Tebas last week.
“For the first time I agree with Tebas,” Guardiola revealed during a press conference prior to Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Brentford. “All the Premier League teams want us to be sanctioned, that is for sure.”
Guardiola continued, “But that’s why I say to Mr Tebas and the Premier League teams, wait for the independent panel. Justice is there in a modern democracy. It’s not more complicated than that.
“I don’t know if he is a lawyer or the rest of the Premier League teams are lawyers, so I ask for that. It happened with UEF. We believe we have not done anything wrong.”
