Man City to be Booted From Champs League?

Borussia Dortmund’s chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke apparently isn’t familiar with the idea of letting sleeping dogs lie. Ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match with Man City, he fired some major verbal shots at the reigning EPL champs.

Watzke suggested during a press conference Tuesday that Manchester City should be banned from Champions League play due to their dependence on City owner Sheik Mansour’s “back door” gifts and £350million (more than $555 million Canadian) sponsorship deal. City has spent close to £500 million (close to $800 million Canadian) on new players since Mansour took over four years ago. The latest star to find his way onto Man City’s want list is Fiorentina striker Stevan Jovetic. City tried to sign the 22-year-old last summer but couldn’t strike a deal. Now the club has him targeted again for the January transfer window. Jovetic scored 14 times in 27 appearances last season. It’s this type of free spending that Watzke is upset about.

“UEFA must find the thin line between sponsorship and excessive backdoor funding – they must show strength to expel big clubs,” Watzke told reporters. “No tycoon should be allowed to pump crazy money into a club with sponsorship from five companies he controls. If that happens, financial fair play will fail.”

The German club prides itself on its financial responsibility and are a perfect example of a squad that’s embraced UEFA’s Financial Fair Play program. UEFA has stressed that teams that don’t fall in line with the program will be expelled from Champions League play. Dortmund however may end up regretting ruffling Man City’s feathers before Wednesday’s game. Man City already lost its first Champions League game 3-2 to Real Madrid two weeks ago and failed to advance past the group stage of CL play last season.

City had Real Madrid on the ropes in matchday one play, up 2-1 in the second half before falling apart. Meanwhile, Dortmund earned a 1-0 victory over Ajax. That means City has its back against the wall against a team that just erupted with a 5-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach last weekend. “I think it will be a very difficult game. In my opinion Dortmund are one of the best teams in Europe,” the Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini told reporters. “They won the Bundesliga. They are very strong and in players like Robert Lewandowski and Mario Gotze they are dangerous going forward. If we concede space, like we did in Madrid, we will make it difficult for ourselves.”

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