Foot: Guardiola criticizes Ceferin, the president of UEFA, for his comments on Manchester City

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola strongly criticized UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin on Thursday for his comments on the suspension of European Cups imposed on the English club in 2020, when it was subsequently lifted by the Arbitration Tribunal of sport and that other procedures are underway. The English and European champion club is in fact facing 115 accusations of financial offenses committed between 2009 and 2018. An independent commission of the Premier League must soon rule on this subject.

UEFA suspended Manchester City from all European competition for two years in February 2020 for breaching its financial fair play rules, but the sanction was overturned by the CAS which found that some of the accusations made against City were not “not established” and that others were prescribed.

“We know we were right,” Mr. Ceferin said in an interview published Wednesday by the Daily Telegraph. "We wouldn't have made such a decision if we didn't think we were right." A furious Pep Guardiola said that by speaking out now, the UEFA president had failed to respect the ongoing process. “As a lawyer, as president of UEFA, he should have waited,” said the Spanish technician. “A lawyer must respect procedures. He knows that we have the right to defend ourselves,” he continued.

Furthermore, UEFA lost this Thursday one of its main officials, football director Zvonimir Boban, opposed to the procedure initiated by Aleksander Ceferin to be able to be renewed until 2031. Glory of Croatian football as well as AC Milan, the ex-playmaker explains, in a letter sent to several European media, having expressed to Ceferin "his great concern and his total disapproval" at the idea of ​​extending the president's lease beyond the three-term limit which he himself introduced. A decision likely to open a crisis within the European body.