Manchester City's historic 2023 Champions League triumph is facing fresh scrutiny after the club was found guilty this week of serious financial rule breaches by the Premier League, with questions now extending beyond domestic titles to their greatest night in Europe.

A Premier League panel ruled that City had arranged what it described as "sham" contracts and had concealed the true state of the club's finances from auditors and football regulators. The sanctions City now face in English football are expected to be severe — but the fallout is beginning to ripple across the continent.

Italian journalist raises Inter Milan grievance

In 2023, City became only the second English club to complete a domestic and European Treble — winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League — a feat previously achieved only by Manchester United in 1999.

Now, Italian journalist Sandro Sabatini has publicly suggested that Inter Milan were wronged in that Istanbul final, which City won 1-0. Speaking in a radio interview, relayed by FCInter1908 and Sport Witness, Sabatini argued that the implications of the Premier League verdict could reach as far back as that showpiece occasion.

"We are heading towards a verdict, the one on City, which if it becomes retroactive, and if the principle applies that an offence was committed by breaking a rule, then clearly it's something enormous," he said.

"If you commit an offence by buying a player in 2018 and that player also plays in 2023, when there's the final against Inter, hold on. 2023 isn't part of the investigation, but you played with players with whom you broke the rules. The Manchester City situation is enormous."

A familiar legal battle

This is not the first time City have faced European-level consequences for alleged financial misconduct. In February 2020, UEFA handed the club a two-year ban from European competition after finding they had committed serious breaches of Financial Fair Play regulations between 2012 and 2016. City successfully appealed that decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which overturned the ban.

City's place among Europe's elite had once seemed unassailable after Istanbul — but the Premier League panel's findings have reopened debates that the club may have hoped were firmly closed. City's next fixture sees them travel to Liverpool when Premier League action resumes.