Erling Haaland has urged Manchester City supporters to stick together and keep smiling after the club was found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of Premier League financial rules. His message: "stay together, enjoy the ride and smile."
The club has launched an appeal against the verdict of an independent commission. City insist they are "innocent" and have described the judgement as "opinion", claiming it "contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact and is unsafe".
The commission found that between 2009/10 and 2017/18, City arranged "sham" contracts with a number of commercial partners as part of a "disguised funding scheme" to artificially inflate the club's revenues by £830m. It also concluded that the club filed accounts that concealed the true state of its finances, and broke "well over 100" Premier League regulations.
Amid the off-field fallout, Haaland and his team-mates face Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, live on Sky Sports. Haaland, son of former City player Alf-Inge Haaland, said he sees himself as a City fan too. "I care a lot about the city, I have to say. I care a lot about the fans because I'm a fan myself," he said.
Haaland also looked ahead to the fixture, which has carried a strong rivalry since the Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp eras. "It's always special to play against Liverpool," he said, adding that every game against them is special regardless of the result.
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