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UEFA seek solution to Liverpool dilemma
UEFA how vowed to find a positive solution to benefit everyone in the controversy surrounding Liverpool's bid to defend the Champions League next season.
Pressure has increased on European football's governing body in the past week to include the Reds in next season's competition following their stunning penalty shoot-out triumph over AC Milan in Istanbul. The G14 group of elite European clubs have added their voice to the clamour, while Football Association chairman Geoff Thompson - who is also a UEFA vice-president - has continued lobbying for England to be allowed to enter five teams in the 2005/06 tournament, thus enabling Liverpool to defend the trophy. But so far, UEFA have insisted that the competition's rules, which state no more than four clubs from any one country may compete in the tournament, must be adhered to. "I feel the situation is very difficult," reflected Eggert Magnusson, an executive committee member and president of the Football Association of Iceland, in an interview with BBC radio Five Live. "I have always said this was a matter the [English] FA should have taken firmly, maybe two or three months ago when they faced the possibility Liverpool could be in the final or even win the competition. "The regulations say it quite clearly that there can only be four teams from each nation, maximum, in the Champions League. "I think a lot of people within UEFA, within the executive committee, have a feeling in their heart for Liverpool, but the rules are there to be followed, and that is something we also have to stand by. "This is being looked into and I am sure we will try to find a positive solution that everybody can be happy with." The Anfield club will probably have to wait until the middle of the month before the issue is resolved by UEFA's 15-man executive committee at a meeting in Manchester on June 17. UEFA president Lennart Johansson is understood to be broadly supportive, and his influence is extremely important though not necessarily decisive. Magnusson believes UEFA will now look to ensure this scenario cannot be repeated, where a team wins the European Cup but does not qualify via their domestic league position. "You have to face a situation like this before you look seriously into it, he added. "Of course it happened some years ago, and the Spanish FA took a very firm decision, but this time I think people will have to look seriously into the consequences for the future."
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