Manchester City case has major implications for integrity of game, says FA; Burnham stirs tensions: football news - live

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FA confirms it has powers to take disciplinary action against City

Matt Hughes

The FA has confirmed it has powers to take disciplinary action against Manchester City and key individuals at the club in the governing body’s first comments since City were found guilty of more than 100 breaches related to financial regulations.

The FA statement reads: “The independent commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game. We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.

“As proceedings between the Premier League and Manchester City Football Club remain ongoing, we do not intend to comment further at this stage. We will, however, continue to monitor developments closely.”

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Updated at 04.45 EDT

Key events

Thomas Tuchel is due to speak at 12.30pm UK time: don’t miss it.

If you would like to cast an eye over the weekend’s Nations League fixtures, you can do so here.

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Thanks Billy and hello everyone. What is occurring in the wonderful world of association football?

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That’s it from me for now. Luke McLaughlin is here to take over.

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Matt Hughes

Manchester City: Andy Burnham’s intervention in the Manchester City debate has revived tensions between the Premier League and the UK prime minister.

Government officials are understood to be unhappy they were not given notice that the independent commission’s damning judgment of £900m of financial manipulation and “sham contracts” would be published shortly after Burnham’s address at the Labour party conference on Tuesday, and his response has not gone down well with several Premier League clubs concerned by his relationship with City’s owners.

In a series of interviews on Wednesday Burnham said he would be “really concerned” if City’s owners were forced to sell after being found guilty of more than 100 breaches of financial rules.

Such was the reaction that Downing Street felt compelled to clarify Burnham’s position on Thursday, with a No 10 spokesperson saying the prime minister had made clear that “the initial judgment is serious” and “there can’t be any suggestion that anyone is above the rules”.

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FA confirms it has powers to take disciplinary action against City

Matt Hughes

The FA has confirmed it has powers to take disciplinary action against Manchester City and key individuals at the club in the governing body’s first comments since City were found guilty of more than 100 breaches related to financial regulations.

The FA statement reads: “The independent commission’s decision has significant implications for the integrity of the game. We are carefully considering the decision and its implications and will take action where appropriate.

“As proceedings between the Premier League and Manchester City Football Club remain ongoing, we do not intend to comment further at this stage. We will, however, continue to monitor developments closely.”

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Updated at 04.45 EDT

Sport in Focus: If you like sport and you like pictures, then sign up to our newsletter of our editors’ favourite sporting images from the past week. There’s a new edition dropping into inboxes at midday today (BST).

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“Everyone at Liverpool should be happy today” – Jürgen Klopp was full of praise for Florian Wirtz after his goal in Germany’s 2-0 win over Serbia last night.

double quotation markThat was exceptional; he played a fantastic game. Our style of play suits Flo Wirtz. I don’t even know what Flo has to do right to make everyone happy. Everyone in Liverpool should be happy today.

Wirtz didn’t feature in Klopp’s first game in charge, a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands last week, and came off the bench in the 1-0 defeat to Greece that followed. He played the full 90 last night, operating off the frontman Nick Woltemade and scoring on the hour mark to double Germany’s lead.

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Manchester City: Ed Aarons and Porto-based Miguel Dantas have taken a deep dive into the situation surrounding Rui Pinto, the former history student whose leaks of private documents in 2018 prompted the investigation into City.

After Pinto turned his attention to Gianni Infantino on Wednesday, Portuguese authorities confirmed that he is no longer a protected witness:

double quotation markThat is understood to have come as a surprise to the 37-year-old, who finds himself without a job, a home or an income. He has been living in a safe house under protection and has never disclosed his location, and it is understood he has received no visitors.

The Guardian understands talks had been initiated to begin the process of reintegrating Pinto back into social and professional life. That initiative will be halted, leaving Pinto to fend for himself. He has been advised not to return home, contact family members or visit crowded places socially or for work.

Yesterday evening, Pinto posted on social media: “I will make a very important announcement tomorrow at 18:00 UTC.” That’s 7pm BST.

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Updated at 04.45 EDT

Women’s Champions League: “Of course there is a lot of noise but the players are very calm – I haven’t seen or noticed anything that will take any percentage out of the players’ performance” – the words of Andrée Jeglertz last night after his Manchester City team were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Madrid. Linda Caicedo’s opener was cancelled out by Khadija Shaw in City’s first game since the Premier League’s guilty verdict.

Tom Garry was at Joie Stadium to gauge the mood …

double quotation markSpeaking to supporters on the bridge that connects this venue with the neighbouring Etihad Stadium, some appeared relaxed about the situation and unsure what it had to do with the women’s team, while others were clearly troubled and looking forward to watching some football as a form of escapism.

An elderly City fan, who did not wish to be named, said pre-match: “We’ve been through rough times before, we’ll come through rough times again,” in a matter-of-fact manner. Another simply demonstrated what appears to be a growing dislike for reporters asking about the 115 charges when they said angrily “you’re from the media?” before using an expletive and promptly walking away.

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Nations League: Jorge Jesus guided Portugal to an impressive 4-2 win in Denmark in the first game since Cristiano Ronaldo had walked away from the squad over concerns about his playing time. Ronaldo left camp after an apparent rift with Jesus having been left on the bench for last Sunday’s win in Norway. João Félix was again on the scoresheet for Portugal as his late strike sealed the points.

Jürgen Klopp won his first match in charge of Germany at the third attempt as Florian Wirtz’s second-half goal helped secure a 2-0 win over Serbia in Munich. After losing to Greece on Sunday, Klopp had to field frankly ridiculous questions about the diversity of Germany’s national team.

Greece almost pulled off another shock win last night but surrendered a two-goal lead to draw with the Netherlands in Thessaloniki. Virgil van Dijk and Tijjani Reijnders rescued things for Xavi, who admitted he was at fault after a poor first half. “Maybe I made things unclear for the players by making too many changes,” said the Netherlands boss.

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Nations League: Let’s have a look back at last night’s action, eh? Wales notched their first win of the campaign by coming from behind to beat Norway in Cardiff. With the score level at 1-1 at the break, Torbjørn Heggem was sent off 17 seconds into the second half and Neco Williams scored the winner from the resulting free-kick.

A lot of eyes were on Manchester City’s Erling Haaland, who was kept at arm’s length by Wales and serenaded by chants of “You’re just a shit Kieffer Moore” from home supporters. Martin Ødegaard, who captained Norway to the World Cup quarters in the summer, described the result as the “first punch in the face for a long time” while Wales manager Craig Bellamy was happy to respond to the criticism he has received of late:

double quotation markLook, I am a strong person, I think we all are, but it’s the people around me I’m conscious of. It’s just society. What are we? Eight prime ministers in the space of 11 years? It’s nuts ... We’re such a small country, why can’t we have each other’s backs? Why don’t we look after each other more? The others can go at us. We’re too quick [to criticise].

In Dublin, the Republic of Ireland’s 2-2 draw with Austria was stopped twice in the first half after pro-Palestine protests against their matches with Israel. The Ireland squad were under pressure to boycott last Sunday’s game against Israel in Hungary, which they won 3-0, and face them again in Dublin this Sunday.

With Ireland 1-0 up after Troy Parrott’s fine solo goal, tennis balls with Palestine flags were thrown on to the pitch in the 20th minute before a man appearing to be carrying a Palestine flag invaded the pitch in the 35th minute. Austria came from 2-0 down in the second half to recover a draw.

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Updated at 03.51 EDT

Preamble

Hello and welcome to Friday’s football blog, where we’ll keep you up to date with the latest news on the Manchester City case plus reaction and previews of the men’s Nations League action. Man City are expected to lodge an appeal before the deadline today against the guilty verdict on over 100 charges of breaching financial rules handed down to them by the Premier League on Tuesday. The UK government was yesterday forced to clarify comments the prime minster, Andy Burnham, made the previous day about his “concern” for City losing their Abu Dhabi owners after the verdict – a Downing Street spokesperson emphasised that: “If wrongdoing is established those responsible should face the appropriate consequences.”

Elsewhere, Thomas Tuchel will be speaking from Croatia ahead of England’s Nations League fixture tomorrow in Rijeka. The game is due to be taking place behind closed doors as punishment for Croatian fans’ behaviour, although the stadium is expected to be largely full of local schoolchildren (plus 100-odd England fans) – that’ll be an interesting atmosphere. Scotland are also in action tomorrow in North Macedonia with Sebastien Pocognoli looking for his first win in charge. Tonight sees France take on Italy in Paris and Northern Ireland face Ukraine in Slovakia.

Last night, there was a 2-1 win for Wales against 10-man Norway in Cardiff and protests twice halted the Republic of Ireland’s 2-2 draw with Austria in Dublin. Jürgen Klopp also got off the mark as Germany manager against Serbia and Cristiano Ronaldo watched on from home (or not) as Portugal won in Denmark without him. In the Women’s Champions League, Manchester City earned a point against Real Madrid. They host Arsenal on Sunday in the WSL’s standout weekend fixture.

You can get in touch with your comments throughout the day.

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