The solution of Manchester City to play de 2020-21 Champions League

Manchester City tries to move forward with its season, but UEFA's sanction is the absolute protagonist of its current affairs. The governing body determined that it had breached the rules of the 'Fair Financial Play' and had not collaborated in its investigation, so it decreed a two-year exclusion in European competitions and added a fine of 30 million euros to a penalty rather than exemplary.

The 'citizens' officially announced their disagreement regarding the inquiries and the decision taken, and confirmed that they are preparing an appeal to the Court of Sports Arbitration (TAS). According to several experts, there would only be one way for the club to be in the Champions League 2020-21, and that is to request immediate precautionary measures to maintain a classification that must still certify on the lawn.

Ferran Soriano, its executive director, recently stated that it is waiting for an urgent solution, but waiting can be a risky strategy. If the usual deadlines are maintained, the analysis of your file would not be carried out until the beginning of 2021, although if it were expedited it could be advanced to the month of July 2020. This would be an advantage because the draw for the group stage is scheduled for 17 August, but at the same time it would be inconvenient because the English would have less time to prepare their arguments.

The lawyer of sports law John Mehrzad explained to the agency 'REUTERS' that the most likely is that the 'citizen' are inclined to the mentioned option, to avoid being given the reason when a campaign of punishment in the International tournaments. If the TAS ratified the UEFA penalty, there would also be no problems, because the restrictions would shift to the 2021-22 and 2022-23 courses.

Christopher Flanagan, editor-in-chief of the International Sports Law Journal, also believes that the most sensible thing would be to opt for the precautionary, since in this way the City could reinforce its position in the face of a process that is expected to be very demanding. "That is most likely, since it would give the City some certainty while preparing for a full audience without risking their chances of participating in the next Champions," he says.

The granting of the precautionary, a measuring stick for the City

Mehrzad also details that the possible grant of precautionary measures will be a measuring stick for the City, as it will mark its possible success in the appeal. "It will be very revealing to see what TAS does in case of a request for provisional measures. One of the factors that the president of the court will take into account when deciding whether to grant such precautionary measures is the probability of success of the appeal," he argues, which means that if there is a green light I would still have hope but if not, the sanction would be almost inevitable.