PSG's Luis Enrique hopes Man City avoid sanctions — SkimNews
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- Luis Enrique said he was 'surprised' by City's guilty verdict on the majority of 115 Premier League financial charges and hopes the club avoid sanctions, telling reporters: 'the trophies you win on the pitch remain on the pitch.'
- Manchester City were found by an independent commission to have created 'sham' contracts with commercial partners over a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018 to secretly funnel more than £830m into their football operations; City deny the charges and have appealed.
- Wednesday's Champions League match at the Etihad (20:00 BST) is City's first home game since the verdict, and is also Pep Guardiola's expected first return to the stadium since leaving last summer after winning 20 trophies in 10 years; Enrique called Guardiola a friend.
- Ousmane Dembele brushed off the idea that the verdict makes City easier to face, saying: 'It is always difficult regardless of it being a good moment or a bad moment… They have a high quality team, world-class players and a top coach.'
- Both City and PSG were fined by UEFA in 2014 for breaching financial rules — a shared regulatory history that sits beneath Wednesday's meeting of two Gulf-state-owned clubs (City by Abu Dhabi United Group since 2008, PSG by Qatar Sports Investment), the reigning European champions.
Why it matters: Enrique's public defense of City's on-pitch legitimacy — vouching for their trophies before sanctions are decided — lands at the first competitive moment after the verdict, with City's appeal still pending. Two Gulf-state-owned clubs carrying parallel UEFA fine histories meeting in the Champions League gives the framing extra weight.
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