Daniel Riolo did not at all appreciate Luis Enrique’s position regarding Manchester City. While the English club is at the heart of a major financial fraud case, the Paris Saint-Germain coach was keen to defend the sporting successes of the Citizens, believing that the trophies won on the field were deserved, while calling for the decisions of the sporting justice system to be awaited. A statement which angered the editorialist of RMCparticularly virulent towards the Spanish technician. “ What he says is truly scandalous. It’s scandalous! Because that means the guy can cheat, but you deserve on the field. But what do you deserve on the field if you cheated, if you practiced financial fraud and if you had players you couldn’t have had? », he got carried away. For Riolo, it is impossible to dissociate the sporting performances of a club from the financial means which allowed it to build its squad. He thus criticizes Luis Enrique for establishing a distinction between possible fraud committed in the offices and the results obtained on the pitch.
The editorialist went even further by accusing the Parisian coach of lacking consideration towards Manchester City’s opponents. “ He says they deserved everything and he says: “I hope it ends well for City.” But he spits in the face of Arsenal, he spits in the face of Manchester, of Liverpool », Continued Riolo, believing that Luis Enrique did not understand the importance of this affair in England. He notably recalled that several former glories of English football, such as Steven Gerrard, Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher, were demanding answers and possible sanctions. “ There are a lot of very great players who are up to speed and who say: now we want to know*,” he insisted. According to him, if Manchester City did indeed benefit from financial resources obtained in violation of the rules to sign players that it would not have been able to afford otherwise, the legitimacy of its titles must be called into question. A position radically opposed to that of Luis Enrique, whose comments visibly provoked Daniel Riolo’s incomprehension.
