Platini rejected the suggestion that he did not want
an All-English affair.
Michel Platini has emphatically rejected the suggestion
that he did not want Chelsea
to beat Barcelona in order to prevent a second successive
all-English Champions League final, insisting the current
phenomenon of Premier League success is simply in the cyclical
nature of the tournament.
‘If there had been two English clubs in the final I
would have been happy because I respect the result of the
competition,’ said Platini, the UEFA president.
‘It’s not about the nationality of the team. I will
always respect the result. If there were two English clubs I would
be as happy as if there were two German clubs.
‘I am 54 years old. You are younger than me, but the
balance in European football always changes. I always say, you had
two Italian clubs in the final in Manchester six years ago and two
Spanish clubs in 2000. That’s not bad.’
But Platini does acknowledge that he was inconsistent
when condemning Manchester City for wanting £120million Kaka while
appearing to accept Real Madrid’s pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo for
£70m funded by a bank loan.
Platini does acknowledge that he was inconsistent
condemning Manchester City while appearing to accept Real Madrid’s
pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo for £70m funded by a bank
loan.
‘That is a good question,’ said the Frenchman. ‘You have
embarrassed me! Why is it different? I could understand [why people
were upset in England] but it wasn’t what I intended. My intention
was to rationalise things.
‘I didn’t know that Real Madrid would receive a loan for the
transfer so we will look at that and we will see. The fact is, how
can we work to protect football? I think
it’s not a good thing that a player can be bought for £120million.
It’s not good for
football to spend £120m in the financial crisis.’
And Platini put in context comments that he wanted Juventus to
win the Champions League, which, given the recent history of
corruption at Juventus, appeared inappropriate for the UEFA
president. ‘I said it of all my former three clubs,’ said
Platini.
‘For the first time, all three of my former clubs were in
European competition, with
Nancy and St Etienne in the UEFA Cup and Juventus in the Champions
League. I
never say it would be nice if they won, but it was throwaway line.
I always respect what is happening on the field.’
