The football world was well and truly rocked this week as UEFA handed down an unprecedented punishment to Manchester City.

European football's governing body found City guilty of a gross breach of their financial fair play rules and decided to throw the book at them.

City are now banned from the Champions League for the next two seasons, as well as having to pay a €30m fine.

They'll appeal, of course, to the Court of Arbitration for Sport as they feel they've done nothing wrong - a stance they maintain despite UEFA finding them guilty.

But that won't change the fact that they are guilty in the eyes of UEFA and whether that's rightly or wrongly, it is relevant this season.

Because City are still playing in UEFA's premier club competition, the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola's side will take on Real Madrid this month and according to Jamie Carragher, UEFA will be desperate for Real to win.

"I can't believe they [City] are in the competition now," he said on Monday Night Football. "And not because I'm saying this from a Liverpool point of view - 'I want City out of the competition'.

"What would happen if City would win this competition this season? They're favourites for it. They're one of the best teams in Europe.

"It would make a mockery of the competition. UEFA will be desperate for City to get beat by Real Madrid - absolutely desperate.

"Can you imagine people from UEFA having to give to cup, in Istanbul, to a Man City player? The first question Pep Guardiola would get asked after the game is 'is this a fake win?'.

"You'll be getting questions about the merits of the cup - should they be in the competition? So they're in a competition now where if they win it, it'll almost be tainted.

"I think for UEFA, they should have either taken City out of the competition right now or they should have left this decision to the end of the season."

It's certainly a strange and debatable situation.

How can UEFA officially label City their champions while also saying they've cheated to get there? Whether City are truly guilty or not, that's the stance UEFA have taken.

Carragher's absolutely right about the questions everyone would ask. We'll have to wait and see then but if they do get past Real Madrid, this debate will intensify.