Manchester City chief Khaldoon Al Mubarak has vowed that they will win their war with UEFA – and has launched a searing attack on the club’s critics.
In a measured yet stinging offensive, the under-fire club’s chairman declared that ‘the facts will prevail’ and branded criticism of City and fellow Emirate-owned Paris Saint-Germain by outspoken La Liga president Javier Tebas as hypocritical and with racist undertones.
In what represents a significant shift onto the front foot Al Mubarak, the first executive from the Premier League champions to speak publicly over UEFA’s investigation into the club’s alleged breaches of Financial Fair Play Rules, also took aim at rival outfits in England for briefing against City to the media and claimed the probe into his club is an attack on the Premier League.
Khaldoon Al Mubarak has vowed Manchester City will win their war with UEFA this year
Manchester City won a treble, but are under investigation for allegedly breaking FFP rules
In an interview, Al Mubarak claims that the 'facts will prevail' about the ongoing investigation
During an at times explosive end of season interview brimming with indignation, the 44-year-old gave a robust defence of under-fire City’s spending and claimed others were using his club as a diversionary tactic to drag attention away from their own ineptitude.
The domestic treble-winners are facing the threat of being banned from the 2020-21 Champions League after UEFA announced earlier this month that their investigation had been referred to adjudicators to determine a sanction.
City will appeal any such punishment, with the case set to end up with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Al Mubarak is confident that the truth will out.
‘Am I uncomfortable?’ he said. ‘No. I respect regulatory bodies doing their job and any regulatory process that asks questions. We have to professionally respond which is what we have done. We have clear answers. I believe, quite comfortably, if the process is going to be judged on facts then unquestionably we will prevail. If it’s not about facts and it’s about other things, then it is a different conversation.
'But I strongly hope that these regulatory bodies will ultimately make the decision based on facts. The reality is we have dealt with this before, with UEFA, this is not the first time we have dealt with it. We are going through the appropriate steps and we’re confident in our position, very comfortable in our position. I’m not concerned about that because facts will prevail.’
Al Mubarak says that Manchester City are 'very confident' and 'very comfortable' so far
Al Mubarak has also hit out at City's critics, saying that some claims are based on jealousy
Tebas, a Real Madrid fan, has often been a leading sceptic and recently accused Abu Dhabi-owned City and Qatar-owned PSG of causing massive damage to European football with their ‘petrol money’.
‘I think there’s something deeply wrong in bringing ethnicity into the conversation,’ Mubarak hit back. ‘This is just ugly. I think the way he is combining teams because of ethnicity. I find that very disturbing to be honest.’
Al Mubarak also slated Tebas’s claims that City’s spending had inflated transfer prices.
‘He talks about how we distorted the market?’ he said. ‘There is a hypocrisy in this statement that is ironic. Let’s look at the Spanish league, the time of breaking
