Paris Saint-Germain travel to Manchester as back-to-back European champions. Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City host them in the Champions League with their Premier League future unresolved, their guilty verdict under appeal, and reports in the French press that PSG have put City’s leading scorer at the top of their shortlist.
Kick-off at the Etihad is at 8pm local time on Wednesday, 14 October, matchday 2 of the league phase. The fixture is listed on Manchester City’s official ticketing site.
City lodged their appeal to the chair of the Premier League’s Judicial Panel at 7pm on Thursday 1 October, the club confirmed. The independent commission that heard the original case concluded City had arranged “sham” commercial deals that inflated revenues and reduced costs by around £900 million between 2009 and 2018.
In a statement, the club said the verdict contained “clear material errors” on multiple grounds and that it was wrong on both the facts and the law.
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Fines, points, or expulsion
The appeal will be heard by an independent three-member board appointed by the chair of the Premier League’s Judicial Panel. Possible sanctions include heavy fines, points deductions, transfer bans and expulsion from the Premier League, Sky Sports reports.
Sky Sports’ Kaveh Solhekol said the appeal “has to be done and dusted in 12 weeks from then, which takes us into the week before Christmas”, with the hearing itself capped at five consecutive days in one block.
Guardiola era over as Maresca settles in
Pep Guardiola stepped down after last season and was replaced by Enzo Maresca on 29 June. Yahoo Sports reports Guardiola has told senior club officials he wants to attend the PSG match.
Maresca’s own Champions League opened with a 2-0 win at Porto on 8 September, Erling Haaland scoring both goals.
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Haaland on PSG’s priority list
PSG arrive as holders. Luis Enrique’s side beat Arsenal on penalties in Budapest in May to retain the Champions League, and the manager has since signed a contract extension that runs until 2030.
Several recent transfer reports put Haaland at the top of PSG’s attacking shortlist. The Hard Tackle, citing Le Parisien, says PSG are prepared to trigger the Norwegian’s reported €175m release clause next summer if the sanctions imposed on City make a transfer realistic. Fabrizio Romano has previously reported the release clause in Haaland’s contract only activates in 2029, so the figure is contested.
Haaland himself is reported to have rejected an approach and told his representatives he wants to stay. According to that reporting, he views 2027 as the point at which he will re-evaluate his future.
Tickets for the Etihad fixture remain listed on the club’s official site, with kick-off at 8pm on Wednesday 14 October.
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