Pep Guardiola is expected to return to Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium next week when the club hosts Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, his first visit since leaving the club after a decade in charge.
His return comes at a significant moment for City, whose first home match since an independent commission found the club guilty of the majority of the Premier League’s 115 financial-rule charges will be against the French champions.
Guardiola, who stepped down at the end of last season, is expected to attend the Oct. 14 fixture, according to reports. He remains closely associated with the most successful period in City’s history, having led the club to six Premier League titles and the Champions League among a haul of major trophies during his 10-year tenure.
The former manager also publicly backed City after the commission’s findings were published last month, saying he remained behind the club’s owners, chairman, chief executive Ferran Soriano, players, staff, new manager Enzo Maresca and supporters.
The commission found City guilty of serious breaches of Premier League financial rules relating to the period from 2009-10 to 2017-18. It concluded that the club had used commercial arrangements that artificially inflated revenue and reduced costs by more than £900 million during the period under investigation.
City have denied wrongdoing and lodged an appeal on Oct. 1, arguing that the commission’s conclusions contain significant legal and factual errors. The appeal is being considered by an independent three-member panel, while sanctions in the original case have yet to be decided.
Before the PSG match, Maresca’s side will travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on Oct. 11 in a Premier League fixture that will provide another test for the team following the verdict.
For Guardiola, however, the Champions League meeting will mark a return to the stadium where he spent a decade building one of English football’s most successful teams.
His presence is likely to draw attention beyond the match itself, particularly after his recent message of support for the club as it challenges the commission’s findings.
The PSG game will therefore bring together two strands of City’s recent history: the Guardiola era that transformed the club into a European power and the financial case that now hangs over its current leadership.
