MY ACCOUNT
Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness mocked Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain for their failure to win the Champions League despite their vast resources.
City were acquired by Abu Dhabi United Group – backed by Sheikh Mansour – in 2008, while PSG were bought by Qatar Sports Investments three years later, with the company’s chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi, becoming the club’s president.
The two clubs have gone on to achieve extraordinary success domestically, with City winning five Premier League titles and PSG claiming seven Ligue 1 crowns since their respective takeovers.
However, neither club has managed to win the Champions League.
Both have gone close in recent years, though City were beaten in the final by Chelsea last season and PSG were bested in the showpiece event by Hoeness’ Bayern the year before.
That was Bayern’s second success in the competition since 2011, the other occasion being their 2-1 defeat of Borussia Dortmund in 2013 after losing the final on penalties to Chelsea the year before.
Hoeness takes great pride in Bayern pipping their richer counterparts to club football’s most coveted European trophy and insisted the Bavarian giants will remain ahead of both sides.
“So far they haven’t won anything,” Hoeness said on the 11 Leben podcast. “Nothing at all. The two teams don’t have a single Champions League title.
“They will continue to lose against us. Not always, but sometimes. That has to be the goal, and if we win against them, I’m really happy. This is what stimulates me to show them, ‘your s****y money, that’s not enough!’
“The difference between [PSG president Al-Khelaifi] and me is: I worked hard for the money and he got it as a gift. He doesn’t need to work for that. When he wants a player, he will find his emir.”
City and PSG were both drawn into Group A of this year’s Champions League and the pair are battling for top spot in the table, with Pep Guardiola’s men one point ahead of Mauricio Pochettino’s side after four matches.
Bayern, meanwhile, have won each of their four group-stage games and are already through to the knockout stages, sitting six points ahead of Barcelona in Group E.
