City appeal victory not good for football: Klopp
Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp described as “not a good day for football” Manchester City’s successful appeal against a two-year UEFA ban for allegedly breaking Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.
“I don’t think it was a good day for football yesterday, to be honest,” Klopp told a virtual news conference on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
“FFP is a good idea. It is there for protecting teams and the competition, so that nobody overspends and have to make sure the money they want to spend is based on the right sources.”
City won its appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday, meaning it will now be allowed to compete in next season’s Champions League.
CAS ruled that City did not breach FFP rules by disguising equity funding as sponsorship.
“It’s not up to me to judge this and I don’t but I think this FFP framework we should stick to. I hope FFP stays just because it gives kind of borders that you can go to, but not over it, and that’s good for football,” Klopp said.
“If you start doing that nobody has to care anymore and the richest people or countries can do what they want.
“It will make the competition really difficult and I think that would lead automatically to a kind of world super league with like 10 clubs and it would depend on who owns the clubs and not the names of the clubs. It makes sense to have these rules.”
Klopp did say, however, that City’s place in the Champions League next season might at least benefit Liverpool as it tries to retain its Premier League title.
“They won’t have 10 or 12 games less now — no other team would have had a chance in the (Premier) league,” he said.
Liverpool faces Arsenal today knowing defeat would end its chances of equaling Manchester City’s record 100-point haul in the Premier League set two years ago.
With three games remaining Reds have 93 points with City a distant second on 72.
‘Disgraceful’
Meanwhile Jose Mourinho labeled the CAS decision to overturn City’s ban as “disgraceful”.
City was still fined £10 million, down from £30 million, for failing to comply with UEFA’S investigation, The Independent reported.
And the Spurs manager did not hide his anger at one of his rivals escaping what he deemed to be an appropriate punishment.
“It’s a disgraceful decision,” explained the Tottenham
boss.
“Because if City are not guilty then you are not punished with £10 million.
“If you’re not guilty you shouldn’t have a fine. If they are guilty the decision is also a disgrace and you should be banned.
“In any case, the decision, it’s a disaster.”
Mourinho also claimed that as a result of City escaping a ban that it would be “better to open the circus door”.
Pep Guardiola, however, demanded an apology after his side was found innocent of breaching FFP rules.
“Today is a good day for football,” said the Spaniard. “If we broke the rules we would have been banned.
“We can play in the Champions League next season because what we have done is right, is proper.
“It would be nice [for people to stop criticizing], but I don’t think so.”