Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has hit back at comments from La Liga president Javier Tebas relating to the overturning of the club’s European ban.
Guardiola: “Señor Tebas must be so jealous of the PL. He’s an incredible legal expert. Next time I’ll ask him which judges we have to go to. He has to focus on La Liga. He is one of these people: when the sentence goes for him, it’s perfect, it happened many times in Spain.
— Sam Lee (@SamLee) July 14, 2020
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed on Monday that the club had been cleared of “disguising equity funds as sponsorship contributions” and would be allowed to enter into European competitions as normal.
Back in February, the club had received a two-year ban from playing in the Champions League or Europa League following a lengthy investigation from UEFA – the governing body of European football, but that decision has now been reversed.
Tebas said on Monday, as quoted by BBC Sport: “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.”
The Spanish league chief has been outspoken in recent years of Manchester City’s ownership and he had welcomed the decision back in February to ban the club from Europe for two seasons, having accused them of ‘financial doping’.
However, Guardiola has now responded directly to the comments from Tebas as he told reporters on Tuesday: “Señor Tebas must be so jealous of the Premier League.
“He’s an incredible legal expert. Next time I’ll ask him which judges we have to go to. He has to focus on La Liga. He is one of these people: when the sentence goes for him, it’s perfect, it happened many times in Spain.
“When the decision goes against him there are problems. Señor Tebas we will be in the Champions League next season.”
The outspoken Tebas has been a long-term critic of both City and French champions Paris Saint-Germain –clubs who are owned by individuals with power in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar respectively.
He is a firm believer that these business models are damaging for football generally and also for clubs in Spain’s top flight.
Tebas usually courts controversy and is rarely withdrawn in his comments – he is behind the league’s attempts to play a fixture in the United States and has had a long-running feud with the Spanish FA over that issue and several other matters, including fixture scheduling.
