Paul

Tonight, a state-owned club accused of breaking the rules for over a decade to dominate the Premier League faces a state-owned club that has breached UEFA's financial regulations on its way to dominating French football and eventually dominating Europe. Both Qatar and the UAE entered football with the same ambition: to win, whatever the cost, while using the sport to improve their nations' images and reputations on the world stage. In doing so, they've driven a coach and horses through regulations designed to protect fair competition. PSG spent more than £200M on Neymar and £160M on Kylian Mbappé in the same summer, helping fuel an explosion in transfer fees and wages that the rest of football has been desperately trying to keep up with ever since. The knock-on effect has been devastating. Ligue 1 is now in a financial crisis, while the Premier League, although in a much stronger position, has seen the integrity of more than a decade of competition called into question by Manchester City's financial misconduct. Pep Guardiola will even be there to support his former side. This is the Champions League tie Manchester City deserve after their guilty verdict. Two clubs whose rise represents everything wrong with modern football, facing each other on Europe's biggest stage. This fixture is a microcosm of everything that has gone wrong with the beautiful game.