Arsenal is one team that would have benefitted from the ruling if Manchester City had lost their appeal against the two-year Champions League ban slammed on them by UEFA for breaking Financial Fair Play rules.
However, the ban has been overturned and the Citizens will now play in the Champions League next season and that also means that if Arsenal finishes this season fifth on the league table, they would still be unable to play in the Champions League next season.
Several top flight teams had been hoping that the ban would not be overturned so that another spot would open up for the teams competing for the Champions League positions.
However, it appears that Mikel Arteta wasn’t banking on a ban on Manchester City to help his team after he broke his silence on the ruling.
The Spaniard was speaking ahead of Arsenal’s game against Liverpool and he claimed that Manchester City have worked so hard and they deserved to play in the Champions League next season.
He told Sky Sports: “There is no question about what happens
“They completely deserve to be in the Champions League, because what they’ve done on the pitch is unquestionable and the regulators have looked into it and decided that they haven’t done anything wrong.
“So you have the true aspect that are really clear and transparent and they are going to be in the Champions League because they deserve it and what they have done on the pitch”
So obvious that Arteta would support his mates at Man City. His judgement is not what it once was, which is starting to become a worry.
City cheated, you don’t get a whopping £10m fine for doing nothing wrong and because most of the crimes they committed were time-barred they basically got off on a technicality.
It’s a bad answer, but Arteta’s concerns are much much bigger than what Man City is doing. Even if City did get the ban we STILL might finish outside a European spot. At the same time, Arsenal as an organization MUST challenge UEFA along with the rest of the clubs around Europe. UEFA is corrupt to it’s core, FFP is a giant sham and it needs to be called out. The decision was absolutely ridiculous and clubs HAVE to stand up to blatant corruption. Clubs that do follow the rules have been punished severely by this ruling.
Arsene was right, he once called EUFA’s FFP a joke. MA is is trying to defend the indefensible. Money and legal power wins again, anybody surprised?
Official statements reported that City weren’t found guilty.
They’re fined for not cooperating during the investigation.
Talk about pot calling kettle black, what about the illegal clauses Arsenal put in youngsters deal that was reported here days ago?
I am starting to like you. A lotta people here lives in a bubble. Reality is a harsh but you have to accept it either way.
I don’t know how else you had expected MA to have answered. I see no wrong here. It is true that City deserves to play the Champions League because what they have done on the pitch is unquestionable and MA himself played a major role in that job on the pitch. He was being candid.
I’d be glad to see our Arsenal bulldoze our way to trophies and glories with “money”.
Better to win Epl, CL etc and later be banned from buying players or from CL for a year or two.
I wish that was our fate now.
Bad choice of words Mikel, not very clever to defend the indefensible. They weren’t caught cheating but they did everything they could to prevent UEFA from finding that they did.
Hope he is clever enough to chose the right players for our club. So far Luiz, Mari and Cedric decisions seems bad choice as of now. Hope he is clever enough to train the lads to defend from set pieces. The choice to play from the back / back – side passes have backfired several times and continuing that practice with our chosen clowns seems a bad choice.
I feel so so sorry for this club. I don’t know if any other club can survive this constant attack (negative press) arsenal and the players get on hourly basis. How does this writer expect Arteta to answer that question considering he was their employee 6months ago and parted on good terms. He said….the regulators have looked into it and decided that they haven’t done anything wrong.”So you have the true aspect that are really clear and transparent and they are going to be in the Champions League because they deserve it and what they have done on the pitch” …… Is that not how it happened, the court ruled in favour of city because they found no “wrong doing”. Blame UEFA for being incompetency and not the man who said things as it happens
I am more bothered in the fact that we are nowhere near the champions league,the decision on Man City has been made, get over it and move on.
EUFA had months to put together a watertight case against City – it was dismissed at the first time of asking.
Why would anyone think City would cooperate with an organisation that was trying to prove them guilty of something they denied from the outset?
One of city’s biggest arguments were that the charges were made up from illegally hacked emails anyway.
I have no love for this new city, but they were found not guilty, now let’s follow the investigations currently being held with regards to FIFA AND UEFA representatives.