Manchester City fans sent a defiant message of support to their club’s owners and players on Thursday morning — with news emerging their appeal could be heard in January in the wake of a shock loss at home.
The English powerhouse were recently found guilty of more than 100 breaches of Premier League financial rules, repeatedly maintaining they are innocent of the charges.
Ahead of their Champions League clash with Paris Saint Germain, fans held a giant tifo aloft that read ‘CFID’, which stands for ‘City ‘til I die’.
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It was the latest showing of support after their latest 3-0 Premier League in over Liverpool, whose fans chanted City were “cheats” while they held banners aloft.
PSG came away with a 4-2 victory in City’s first home appearance since their guilty verdict was announced, with the European champions turning on the style to strike three times inside the opening 35 minutes through Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha.
But City stormed back in the second half as Erling Haaland scored twice either side of Maghnes Akliouche’s strike that briefly restored PSG’s three-goal cushion.
City shrugged off the uncertainty over their future to win 3-0 at Liverpool on Sunday and remain top of the Premier League, but PSG showed why they are the favourites to win this competition for a third consecutive season.
Luis Enrique’s decision to leave Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on the bench proved to be inspired as it meant Doue started wide onthe left.
Gianluigi Donnarumma had a point to prove after the Italian goalkeeper was let go by the PSG coach just months after helping deliver the club’s first Champions League title in 2025.
However, it turned out to be a night to forget for the giant Italian. Donnarumma was caught out at his near post by Doue’s effort from outside the box after a lightning counter-attack to open the scoring.
Erling Haaland of Manchester City reacts at full-time.Source: Getty Images
The move for the second goal two minutes later was even more impressive as Doue and Dembele exchanged an elaborate one-twobefore the latter headed in at the far post.
Achraf Hakimi hit the post before Vitinha rattled in PSG’s third from the edge of the box.
Maresca responded with a triple substitution at half-time and managed to salvage some pride, even if the deficit proved too much to overturn.
Antoine Semenyo and Enzo Fernandez missed glaring chances to pull a goal back even before Haaland glanced home a header fromIliman Ndiaye’s cross.
Yet, City were hit by a sucker punch when Donnarumma got a hand to Akliouche’s effort but the ball looped high into the air and spun back into the net.
Former City manager Pep Guardiola returned to the Etihad for the first time since his departure in May, sat behind the club’sembattled chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and CEO Ferran Soriano in a show of solidarity.
City made passing reference to the guilty verdict with a lengthy pre-match video detailing the club’s historic moments of celebration both before and after an Abu Dhabi-backed takeover in 2008 that transformed their fortunes.
Meanwhile, che chair of English football’s independent Regulator has said he expects City’s appeal to be heard by January.
City are currently top of the Premier League table with six wins out of six and no sanction has yet been announced.
Manchester City fans hold up sings making out CTID from the Pep Guardiola Stand.Source: Getty Images
But City could face a heavy points deduction leading to relegation and there has even been speculation they could be stripped of the three Premier League titles they won between 2009 and 2018.
“The Premier League have said that they want to get this resolved within season, and actually, of course, it’s not the Premier League, it’s an independent commission that’s actually going to hear this, made of three retired either judges or lawyers,” independent Football Regulator (IFR) chair David Kogan told Times Radio on Wednesday.
“My understanding is that there is a prescribed process, which is 12 weeks, and so people are assuming this will actually be heard by the middle or the end of January.
“But as I say, it’s not our process, it’s that of the Premier League’s independent commission. What I don’t think we can do is take any judgment until we’re quite clear.”
Kogan said Tuesday he would resign if there was political interference in any future IFR investigations of City.
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Elsewhere, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham was criticised for his comments saying he would be “really concerned” if City’s Abu Dhabi owners left the club following the verdict.
Downing Street subsequently had to backtrack, insisting no one was “above the rules”.
Burnham, who was mayor of Greater Manchester from 2017 to June 2026, has since published all of his dealings with the City hierarchy.
On Monday, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said Burnham had met Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak at an investment summit several years ago when he was mayor of the city.
It was also revealed Burnham had spoken to him in the stands at former City captain Vincent Kompany’s testimonial and was accompanied by staff from the club on official overseas visits.
Burnham was pressed on the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Jerome Mayhew, an MP for the main opposition Conservative party, asked Burnham if anyone associated with the running of Manchester City had raised the issue of the charges either with him or any member of his team.
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Burnham replied: “They did not raise those issues with me.” Kogan said earlier Wednesday: “We’ve had absolutely no interference from anybody since we created the regulator a year ago.
“We cannot, when regulating football, be subject to political interference on decisions we make about owners, directors oranything else.”
He added: “And I won’t actually be prepared to run an organisation which is subject to that degree of interference.”
Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca said last week he “completely trusts” the club and believes it will win its appeal.