Luis Enrique said he hopes everything works out well for Manchester City as the clubs prepare to meet in the Champions League on Wednesday, putting the focus on a case hanging over the English side just as the game approaches. The Paris Saint-Germain manager said the situation should be allowed to reach its final decision before anyone draws conclusions.
That matters now because search interest around Man City vs PSG standings is being driven by more than the match itself. Manchester City faces a Premier League guilty verdict hanging over the club, and Enrique said, “We just have to wait and see what the final decision will be.” He also said he hopes everything works out well for Manchester City, a notable stance from a coach whose own club was fined by UEFA in 2014 over breaches of financial rules.
Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have been linked before through similar takeover histories. Paris Saint-Germain were subject to a takeover in 2011, with Qatar replacing Abu Dhabi, and both clubs were fined by UEFA in 2014 over financial-rule breaches. That background gives Enrique’s comments extra weight, because he is not speaking as an outsider to the subject or to the kind of scrutiny Manchester City now faces.
The friction is impossible to miss. Manchester City fans have spent more than a decade booing and jeering the Champions League anthem, while Enrique is publicly backing the club even though Paris Saint-Germain share the same UEFA fine history. The two managers also know each other well: Enrique and Pep Guardiola were colleagues on Spain’s Olympic roster in 1992, became club colleagues in 1996 when Enrique swapped Real Madrid for Barcelona, and later crossed paths again when Enrique managed Barcelona B while Guardiola was in charge of Barcelona’s first team.
Guardiola is expected to attend the match for the first time since stepping down as manager in May, adding another layer to a game that already carries more than the usual weight. For Manchester City, the immediate question is not the standings on the night but the ruling still pending over the club. Until that decision arrives, the result on Wednesday will be only part of the story.
