Pep Guardiola fires back at UEFA president over Man City FFP claim

Pep Guardiola has hit back at Aleksander Ceferin after the UEFA president made a financial fair play claim about Manchester City.

On Wednesday The Telegraph published an exclusive interview with the UEFA chief.

Though he refused to comments on the 115 charges the Premier League have brought against City for allegedly breaking profit and sustainability rules, he was confident that UEFA were right to throw City out of the Champions League four years ago.

In 2020, UEFA's Club Financial Control Body handed City a two-year European ban for breaching Financial Fair Play rules.

"We know we were right. We wouldn’t decide if we didn’t think we were right," Ceferin said.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned the ban after ruling that much of the evidence against City was timed barred and that other accusations were unproven.

Ceferin continued: "As a trial lawyer for 25 years, I know that, sometimes, you win a case that you are sure you will lose. And, sometimes, you lose a case when you’re sure … You just simply have to respect in a serious democracy the decision of the court.

“I don’t want to speak about the case in England. But I trust that the decision of our independent body was correct."

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Now, City boss Guardiola has hit back. When asked about Ceferin's comments ahead of City's FA Cup clash against Tottenham on Friday, he said: "As a lawyer he [Ceferin] should wait, and after he can do whatever he wants. Whatever sentence there is about UEFA he has to respect it.

"He has a lot to do at UEFA. He knows we have the right to defend ourselves, it's the only thing I can say."

Earlier this month Premier League chief executive Richard Masters revealed that a date has been set for City's case to be heard by an independent panel. He did not disclose the date.