It has not been a good week for Javier Tebas.
The outspoken La Liga president had barely closed his mouth following his latest tirade about the way he feels Arab-owned clubs Manchester City and Paris St Germain go about their business when the European Union's top court ruled that Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna were guilty of being handed illegal state aid.
The European Court of Justice today ordered the quartet to pay back millions after hearing how they took advantage of a system that enabled them to pay five percent less tax on profits than rival clubs for more than 20 years.
The arrangement contravened EU law – and is a huge embarrassment for the holier-than-thou La Liga chief Tebas.
He has been unable to disguise his contempt for City and PSG for years, whilst turning a blind eye to some of the underhand financial practices that clubs under his watch have been employing.
Only this week, when asked about the Premier League leaders and the French champions, Tebas described them as “clubs not based on football but petrol and gas” who are able to sign players in a “not strictly legal way.”
Tebas is still furious about a Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in July that lifted a two-year European ban imposed on City by UEFA.
CAS, an independent body, judged that the Etihad club had not broken Financial Fair Play regulations.
Tebas has now called for CAS to be investigated.
Talk about irony.
More than 15 years ago, Sir Alex Ferguson questioned a deal which saw Madrid sell a plot of land to the local council for £20million after it had been valued at less than £500,000.
Tebas must have been away on holiday.
That was the era of the Galacticos, when the world's top players would head to Spain – usually to the capital.
Now the world knows that how a cosy little carve-up between the tax man and certain La Liga clubs enabled them to cash in.
Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna are state-funded clubs. It's official.
Senor Tebas' view on it should be damning.
While he was mouthing off about City and PSG, Barcelona's former president Josep Maria Bartomeu and three of his advisers had already beeen arrested and questioned by the Catalan police's Economic Crimes Unit.
Bartomeu has just been ousted at the Nou Camp with the club £1billion in debt and Lionel Messi demanding to leave.
Who knows, if allegations that they were involved in a smear campaign against Messi and City boss Pep Guardiola go to court Bartomeu and his cronies might strike lucky and get Javier Tebas as jury chairman.
