Lawyers representing AC Milan at the appeals hearing yesterday hit out at the "exorbitant punishment" handed down by a sports tribunal earlier this month. The tribunal banned the club from next season’s Champions League and ordered them to start their next Serie A campaign on minus 15 points.
The lawyers told the appeal court that the decision to take 44 points off Milan last season was "without precedent" and that the club could only be held "indirectly responsible" for the actions of a former member of its management, Leonardo Meani. They argued Meani was employed on a short-term contract and was "a person altogether marginal to the club".
