EXCLUSIVE: UEFA 'bottled' Man City's 2020 Champions League ban

European football's governing body initially banned City from the competition for two seasons in February of 2020 because they found that the club had committed serious breaches of its Financial Fair Play rules. UEFA said City had overstated sponsorship revenue in information submitted to UEFA between 2012 and 2016.

UEFA also found that City had failed to properly cooperate with the investigation. The original punishment was a two-year Champions League suspension and a €30 million fine.

The Premier League side appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In July 2020, CAS overturned the European competition ban, saying there was insufficient conclusive evidence to uphold the most serious allegations, and that some alleged breaches were outside UEFA's five-year time limit.

However, CAS did find that City had failed to cooperate with UEFA's investigation, so it kept a punishment but reduced the fine from €30m to €10m. Do Man City need to admit their guilt to save themselves?