Javier Tebas has reignited his feud with Manchester City as the head of La Liga accused Khaldoon Al-Mubarak of ignorance and rubbished insinuations he is racist.
Al-Mubarak, City's chairman, gave an interview to his club's website on Monday during which he accused their rivals of 'jealousy'; it came after Tebas had accused the Premier League champions of causing massive damage to European football with 'their petrol money'.
City were furious with the accusation and Al-Mubarak inferred there was a racially motivated agenda against gulf-owned football clubs, saying there was something 'deeply wrong about bringing ethnicity into the conversation'.
During a seminar in Madrid on Thursday ahead of the Champions League final, Tebas took part in an hour-long Q and A and he referred to City and Paris Saint-Germain as having taken part in 'financial doping' to get to the head of their respective leagues.
He was asked for a response to Al-Mubarak's comments and Tebas, 56, refused to back down.
'I did read the interview,' said Tebas. 'I think there is a lot of ignorance about certain things, firstly about how financial control works in European football and ignorance on regards to financial doping. I am not at all racist. I have no issues about ethnicity.
'How can I be racist if two of my grandchildren are Arab? I would be a racist against my own grandchildren! That just shows the ignorance and how easy it is to say things without knowing all the details and people's background. You are talking the ethnicity, it's not true.
'People get confused when I say they are opening up the petrol and gas and finance it like state clubs. It's not the first time I've spoken about it - we had (Roman) Abramovich at Chelsea - they had a lot of losses and he covered it by putting in more money, but he doesn't do it any more.
'Jealous? That is not true. Real or Barcelona have never been state clubs, they have never received support from the state. They are clubs which have not been financed like, for example, PSG when the CAS said they had inflated their sponsorship with Qatar.
'Manchester City are pending a sanction and that is also related to sponsorship. Real Madrid and Barcelona have never had a situation like that in their history; they have never been financed by the Spanish state. I recommend he goes and studies the rules and regulations more.'
Tebas is not a figure who will shy away from making big statements and he took aim at UEFA for their plans to restructure the Champions League from 2024. He claimed it is a move that is worrying the European game and accused UEFA of 'killing football'.
'I think phenomenon of the state clubs are attacking or controlling the institution itself,' said Tebas.
'UEFA should try to stop this financial doping. The big clubs want to change the competition so they can get more money so they are able to compete with this phenomena.
'At the moment it is a very dangerous change to a new competition In my opinion it is absolutely lethal for professional football in Europe, the big leagues and the small leagues. It will kill off all the domestic TV revenues for smaller clubs.'
Litu Lax
748
Man city never broke any record of buying a player but Real Madrid did. Real Madrid and Man United always hijack deals to get players by paying more while City walks away from ridiculous pricing if players. If City had to use oil money, they coul get Van Dyk when they wanted him so bad competing with Liverpool but because of the high price, they walked away and went for Laporte who was cheaper than VVD. They could get Mahrez too for 100 M on that window but they refused to pay that till they came to get him in the summer for 60. City could also buy Fred if it wasn't for over pricing. guess who hijacked it with more money? it was United. City gave a decent contract for Sanchez but United came in with ridiculous contract that attracted him. Do you think if City had money to it could allow all these to happen if they wanted all these players so badly? City style of play is the one they are against coz their clubs are not at that level and can't find managers who can keep up the pace like Liverpool. Kloop cope with it and he is on that pace while Tottenham is also almost there while United and Madrid are busy getting embarrassed and cant cope with the new evolution of football . Shame on to them.
stenco2017
68
Tebas is absolutely correct this two clubs he mentioned are killing football with their oil money.. They have made players cost more than they are valued at..
Towdepy
41
it's true that CITY and PSG are destroying football nothing jealous about facts, they've bought their way into the elite like what Chelsea did when abromivich took over. don't love a club to the extent of ignoring logic,now teams have abandoned their identity of bringing through youth coz competition being brought by money instead of tactical acumen.
Tunisia2439238
15
Man city never broke any record of buying a player but Real Madrid did. Real Madrid and Man United always hijack deals to get players by paying more while City walks away from ridiculous pricing if players. If City had to use oil money, they coul get Van Dyk when they wanted him so bad competing with Liverpool but because of the high price, they walked away and went for Laporte who was cheaper than VVD. They could get Mahrez too for 100 M on that window but they refused to pay that till they came to get him in the summer for 60. City could also buy Fred if it wasn't for over pricing. guess who hijacked it with more money? it was United. City gave a decent contract for Sanchez but United came in with ridiculous contract that attracted him. Do you think if City had money to it could allow all these to happen if they wanted all these players so badly? City style of play is the one they are against coz their clubs are not at that level and can't find managers who can keep up the pace like Liverpool. Kloop cope with it and he is on that pace while Tottenham is also almost there while United and Madrid are busy getting embarrassed and cant cope with the new evolution of football . Shame on to them.
As RM I can tell you that Man City fans should just not talk about RM. Plz mind your business. We only compare the comparable: History, achievements, trophies etc As to Man City can you please remind us about the cost involving Sterling (at a time when the prices were not so crazy) and Walker (the most expensive FB) for instance?! It’s true that you have your share of blame in creating an inflated market and don’t waste your time trying to prove the opposite, but the main responsible of this disastrous situation is PSG. They ruined the market, the teams, the players etc I really feel sorry for the players. They literally become their slaves. The door is only one way, once you’re in there’s no way back. The French law seemingly doesn’t allow buy-out clauses, so no one can do to them what they did to Barça. The players soon realize that it’s not only about money and that they can eventually earn that money in couple of years while also enjoying a wonderful career full of unforgettable moments and trophies. But by the time the players realize that, it’s too late. They are the prisoners of PSG. Look at Verrati, Mbappe, Neymar etc PSG will only let them go if they feel that there was nothing left in them, which means that they will also be of no interest to any big club anymore.