The Scotsman

Wenger: Scots ahead of Barca in EPL queue

- By PATRICK MCPARTLIN

Arsene Wenger has suggested that Celtic and Rangers should be invited to play in England before Barcelona.

The Arsenal manager was responding to claims that Barca could play in the English Premier League, if Catalonia gains independen­ce from Spain.

Javier Tebas, president of La Liga, stated that Catalan clubs – Barcelona, Girona and Espanyol – would not be permitted to compete in the Spanish top flight should the region secede from Spain. Catalan sports

minister Gerard Figueras suggested that the affected sides could ply their trade in another league.

Figueras told the website www.goal.com: “Elite clubs would choose between challengin­g in a Catalan league or in a foreign league.”

In another interview, he raised the possibilit­y of Catalan teams in La Liga competing in the Spanish league, or in Italy, France or England. However, Wenger believes that other clubs should be invited to ply their trade in England before Barca.

He said: “I will try to learn Catalan, but if Barcelona want to join the Premier League, it makes things even more difficult for everybody. But I don’t think they have got as far as that. It is interestin­g and there will be incidents on the sporting side as Barcelona are a highly political club.”

But the Frenchman added: “We have enough clubs here with 20 but if you want to go up to 24, we have to invite the Scottish clubs before we go for the Spanish.”

The debate was sparked by the independen­ce referendum held in Catalonia on Sunday that the Spanish government said was unconstitu­tional.

Celtic and Rangers have long expressed their desire to play in England.

 ??  ?? ARSENE WENGER “We have to invite Scottish clubs before Spanish”
ARSENE WENGER “We have to invite Scottish clubs before Spanish”

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