Enrique Backs City to Keep Titles Despite Financial Breach Ruling
Luis Enrique said Tuesday he hopes Manchester City avoids sanctions after an independent panel found the club guilty of breaching Premier League financial rules. The Paris Saint-Germain coach spoke a day before his side faces City at the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League.
City is accused of providing misleading financial information between 2009 and 2018, a period in which the club won three Premier League titles. An independent commission ruled the club artificially inflated its revenue by more than $1 billion over roughly nine seasons, according to findings cited in the case. City has appealed the verdict. Possible sanctions range from a substantial fine to points deductions or expulsion from the Premier League, and some have called for the club to be stripped of trophies won during the period in question. floorball betting sites
"I hope everything works out well for Man City because I think what they have done on the pitch has been incredible over the last few years and they certainly deserved to win all the trophies they have won," Enrique said. "The trophies you win on the pitch remain on the pitch. They deserved to win that and I hope they can avoid the sanction. But now we have to wait to see what the authorities decide or the judge is going to say."
Both clubs carry state-linked ownership and financial-fair-play history of their own: City is owned by Abu Dhabi interests, PSG is backed by Qatar, and UEFA has previously sanctioned both clubs for breaching its Financial Fair Play regulations. City defender Ruben Dias said the squad remains unaffected by the off-field case, pointing to Sunday's 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield as evidence the team is focused purely on results. "I feel like when you build yourself as a player, you build yourself against any kind of noise," Dias said. "We trust the club, we're very calm and we're very focused on enjoying football." PSG, the two-time defending Champions League winner, meets City at the Etihad on Wednesday, with the financial case still pending further rulings from English football authorities.
