Former Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has jokingly asked users of Twitter whether he is a Premier League champion after over 100 charges were directed at Manchester City.
The six-time Premier League champions have been in a long-standing legal battle with the Premier League, and previously UEFA, for their financial accounts in the years following Sheikh Mansour's takeover of the club in 2009.
However, more than two years after a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned a £30m fine and a two-year ban from UEFA competition, top flight officials have now released a list of indictments against the Citizens for failing to comply with the Premier League's financial regulations.
IVE UPDATES: Latest on Man City charges with new developments as we get them
CITY CHARGES: Man City charged with breaking number of Premier League financial rules
While such a flouting of the rules is unprecedented in English football, the Premier League handbook offers suggestions as to what punishment could fall Manchester City's way if they are found guilty of such breaches at a later date; with a transfer ban, points deduction and expulsion from the league all possible.
But on Monday evening, the iPaper reported the Manchester outfit could be stripped of the Premier League titles they won between 2009 and 2018.
Of course, Liverpool, guided by former manager Brendan Rodgers and the brilliance of Luis Suarez, finished runners-up to Manchester City and Manuel Pellegrini in 2014, with their haul of 84 points not even to deliver a first league title to Anfield since the spring of 1990.
And in a tongue-in-cheek response to possible suggestions that City's triumph nine years ago could be rescinded, Lucas took to Twitter to make light-heart of the hot water the Reds' Premier League rivals find themselves in.
"Am I a Premier League champion?" tweeted the Brazilian to his 1.8m followers.
Lucas spent 10 years at Anfield after joining from boyhood Brazilian club Gremio in the summer of 2007, when he was signed by then-Reds boss Rafa Benitez.
Despite struggling with a string of high-profile knee injuries during his time on Merseyside, he quickly established himself as a fan favourite and also endeared himself to Benitez's successors Kenny Dalglish, Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp before he joined Italian giants AS Roma in the summer of 2017.
Last month, though, the Brazilian revealed he would miss the start of the Brazilian season due to a potential cardiac issue which was flagged during a routine medical examination by the club's medical staff in December 2022.
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