LaLiga president Javier Tebas has hit back at Manchester City chairman Khaldoon al-Mubarak as their feud escalates.
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”.
“I did read the interview,” said Tebas in response. “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.”
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