Two thorns are deep in Nasser al-Khelaifi (48). First, there’s PSG’s painful Champions League exit by Real Madrid earlier this year, after which the Paris boss raged in the catacombs of the Estadio Bernabeu. And on the other hand, there is still the fact that Real and FC Barcelona were in charge of the plans for a Superleague – the attempted coup against the Champions League.
Mr. Oblivious
Dream gate enchants the whole village square
Quelle: twitter@DSAwarenessFc
Al-Khelaifi is upset, doesn’t have a good relationship with Spanish clubs – and he lets them know that at every opportunity. Even after the general assembly of the European club association ECA, whose president is al-Khelaifi, the Qatari, who also sits on the Executive Committee of Uefa, teased. He finds it “strange that they (Real) also celebrate in the Uefa club competitions because they know it’s the best club competition in the world. It’s odd that you go against an existing fantastic club competition and then you participate, celebrate and enjoy winning the trophy. I found that very strange, to be honest. But we don’t want to waste our time with that, we want to continue…”
And then he did – with a dig at Barcelona!
Al-Khelaifi praised the “regulations on financial sustainability” introduced by Uefa. They are “a positive development”, “control costs and expenses”. “They encourage investments and new investors. They will help ensure the sustainability of football going forward.” At the same time, clubs “need to be careful with debt because injecting capital is magically not a sustainable way forward.” He spoke the name of the round FC Barcelona did not owe 1.3 billion euros, but everyone knew which club was meant.
Also Spain’s league boss Javier Tebas. He replied on social networks, writing there: “There is no magic. Barcelona have sold part of their assets to cover their losses, while PSG are ‘putting on the gas’. For a sustainable world of football, the best thing is to pay your debts, isn’t it?”
PSG has been owned by Qatar Sports Investments, a Qatari investor group, since 2011. Since then, they have invested billions in new stars, with significantly lower transfer income at the same time – and above all because of their financially strong background they have not suffered shipwreck.
