Enrique hopes Man City escape Premier League punishment ahead of PSG clash

Luis Enrique, one of the managers who coached Barcelona during the period of the Negreira case, has said he hopes Manchester City will escape the charges brought against them by the English Premier League and that no action will be taken against the team. Enrique, who won the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain in the past two seasons, made the remarks at a news conference held before tonight's Champions League league-phase match against City. He said he was surprised to learn that the charges brought against City had been proven, but that the stages being carried out in connection with the charges must be respected. He added that a group of people had decided to take that step, and that those parties would decide after examining the necessary matters. He therefore noted that one must wait for the final decision. Enrique further said that, looking at football and if he were to say anything, the successes City have achieved so far are deserved by the team. He also said he greatly likes City's style of play. In addition, he said that if he meets Pep Guardiola on the pitch tonight, he has nothing particularly special to say about it, and that the two will simply talk about personal matters. He also accepted that the successes won on the pitch must remain as such, and said his hope was that no action would be taken against City. Enrique is one of the managers who was in charge of Barca during the Negreira case, one of the most noted corruption cases in football history. The case concerns Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, who held the position of deputy president of the Spanish referees committee from 1994 until the end of 2018, allegedly making unlawful benefit from his position by providing Barca with information related to match officials and items such as match reports. The case states that, for this, Barca paid Negreira 7-8 million euros between 2001 and 2018. The UEFA Champions League league-phase match between PSG and City is scheduled to be played tonight at the Etihad Stadium, City's home ground, at 12 midnight Maldives time. This is the first match played on City's home pitch after it was determined that the Premier League charges brought against City were proven.