Manchester City appeal victory not good for football, Klopp says

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp described as “not a good day for football” Manchester City’s successful appeal against a two-year UEFA ban for allegedly breaking Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules.

“I don’t think it was a good day for football yesterday (Monday), to be honest,” Klopp told a virtual news conference on Tuesday.

“FFP is a good idea. It is there for protecting teams and the competition, so that nobody overspends and have to make sure the money they want to spend is based on the right sources.”

Manchester City won their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday, meaning they will now be allowed to compete in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

CAS ruled that Manchester City did not breach FFP rules by disguising equity funding as sponsorship.

“It’s not up to me to judge this and I don’t, but I think this FFP framework we should stick to (it).

“I hope FFP stays just because it gives kind of borders that you can go to, but not over it, and that’s good for football,” Klopp said.

“If you start doing that, nobody has to care any more and the richest people or countries can do what they want.

“It will make the competition really difficult and I think that will lead automatically to a kind of world super league with like 10 clubs and it will depend on who owns the clubs and not the names of the clubs. It makes sense to have these rules.”

Klopp did say, however, that Manchester City’s place in the UEFA Champions League next season might at least benefit Liverpool as they try to retain their English Premier League (EPL) title.

“They won’t have 10 or 12 games less now —- no other team would have had a chance in the (Premier) league,” he said.

Liverpool face Arsenal on Wednesday knowing defeat would end their chances of equalling Manchester City’s record 100-point haul in the Premier League set two years ago.

With three games remaining they have 93 points, with Manchester City a distant second on 72.