Barcelona president Joan Laporta has discussed the club’s finances during Sunday’s General Assembly and admitted UEFA wanted to suspend the Catalans from the Champions League.
UEFA slapped a hefty on Barcelona
in the summer for breaching financial Fair Play regulations which the club subsequently managed to get reduced.
Laporta now says the sanction could have been much worse and Europe’s governing body were ready to suspend Barca from the Champions League.
“UEFA wanted to punish us by not allowing us to play in the next Champions League. And the fact that Barcelona isn’t a limited company and can’t increase its capital was one of the arguments we used to get UEFA to reduce the fine for breaching financial fair play from 60 million to 15 million,“ he said.
“They also wanted to sanction us by not allowing us to play in the next Champions League.”
Barcelona are back in Champions League action on Tuesday when they take on Olympiacos in their third match of the League Phase.
