Champions League draw: Why are Man City in the hat when Uefa ban looms over this season’s competition?
Uefa are almost certain to come down strongly on City over allegations of direct investment disguised as sponsorship from Abu Dhabi companies, but it is a process that will overshadow this season’s Champions League regardless of the outcome
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Your support makes all the difference.Why are Manchester City in today’s Champions League draw? That is the question a number of clubs are asking as they gather in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco where the group phase matchups will be determined this evening.
The Premier League winners were referred to Uefa’s adjudicatory chamber in May after European football’s ruling body decided that City had breached financial fair play rules. The English champions strenuously deny the allegations, which suggest the club’s owner Sheikh Mansour disguised direct investment as sponsorship from Abu Dhabi companies. The penalty for such a transgression could be a suspension from the Champions League.
Yet three months on from the case being passed to the body that can enact the ban, City are in the draw for Europe’s most prestigious competition. The group stage will be well under way before the adjudicatory chamber produces a verdict and sentence.
City will immediately appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The club have already been in contact with the Lausanne-based organisation to seek clarification about the case.
It seems almost inconceivable that Uefa will be lenient and a courtroom battle that could even go beyond the CAS and into the Swiss legal system is looming. The question some are asking is should Uefa have moved more speedily and forced City out of the competition this season?
There is very little sympathy for City among the other clubs in the Champions League. There is even less from Arsenal, in town for tomorrow’s Europa League draw. Had Pep Guardiola’s side been excluded this season, the Gunners could have expected to replace them.
Most rival teams across Europe would have preferred that scenario. What makes the situation far more troublesome for Uefa is that City are serious contenders to reach the final in Istanbul next May. Guardiola’s expensively-acquired squad are feared across the continent. The Etihad’s spending power, backed by Abu Dhabi state wealth, inspires envy and disgust in equal measures. Much of this is hypocritical. AC Milan were banned from European competition this season for financial transgressions in what appears to be a conveniently-timed fudge – the Italian club have no regrets about losing out on a Europa League campaign. Nevertheless, there will be significant levels of glee across the game if City are seen to get their comeuppance.
Even when Uefa make their ruling, the CAS appeal will likely rumble on until next spring. By then the knockout phase will be in full flow. It seems certain City will come through their group with relative ease. The adjudicatory chamber’s apparent footdragging will look very bad if Guardiola’s team are advancing towards the final or – even worse from Uefa’s point of view – go on to win the trophy.
So why have the ruling body let this happen? Uefa are certain of City’s guilt but understand that the club will fight any ban to the bitter end. In Nyon they know that any procedural or evidential mistakes will be pounced upon. City’s lawyers will subject Uefa to the harshest scrutiny and not only will the CAS need to be provided with irrefutable evidence but every potential loophole has to be closed. The Etihad says that there is no proof of wrongdoing and suspect that Uefa have made mistakes in their methods. The courtroom battle will be played out against the more edifying backdrop of action on the pitch.
There are things though that are much more simple. Liverpool, the holders, and City top the list of teams that everyone else in the draw wants to avoid. The Premier League has emerged from a relatively disappointing decade in Europe’s most glamorous tournament. Only Chelsea, in 2012, and Liverpool this year brought the trophy back across the channel in a period where Real Madrid and Barcelona shared seven successes. Yet England is well set to replace Spain as the dominant nation over the coming years.
Jurgen Klopp takes a more cautious view. The Liverpool manager is keen to talk up the strength of the opposition and play down the chances of his team reaching a third consecutive final and winning back-to-back trophies.
“I have no clue who will win the Champions League,” he said. “We have the same chance like everyone else, but that is all. No, I don’t see us, the English teams, dominating. I really think a lot of teams have a good chance.”
The 52-year-old is aware that luck plays a huge part in any knockout competition. “Last year we deserved it [in the semi-final] against Barcelona but we were lucky as well. Tottenham were lucky against Ajax. After the first game of the semis, everyone would have said the final would be Ajax versus Barcelona, but it was Tottenham and Liverpool.
“So we had to really fight for it with everything. You need luck in the right moments.
“I will have no problem with it [reaching the final] if it happens again, but at this moment I am not too sure it will happen again.”
Klopp knows anything can happen but one thing is for certain. City will be at the centre of the drama in the coming months. On and off the pitch.
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