Manchester City have hired a lawyer who twice blocked Brexit to try and overturn their UEFA ban.

There's an air of uncertainty around the Etihad Stadium after the club was banned from Champions League football for two years, pending an appear to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

However, there's been a quiet acknowledgement that City could fight the case with such steel in Lausanne that they could feasibly be competing in Europe as soon as next season.

And their latest legal appointment suggests that City are ready to fight the case tooth and nail.

QC David Pannick, one of the UK's leading legal minds, has been appointed by the Citizens to try and revoke their two-year ban and £25 million fine over the coming weeks and months.

Man City appoint Pannick

Lord Pannick was recently included in the Lawyer Hot 100, which pays homage to the “most daring, innovative and creative lawyers".

The 63-year-old successfully represented Gina Miller when she won her case against then Prime Minister Theresa May to stop the UK leaving the European Union without parliamentary consent.

Baron Pannick of Radlett scored another victory two years later when Mrs Miller took a case to the UK Supreme Court surrounding PM Boris Johnson's bid to prorogue parliament last September.

City try and avoid European ban

In other words, Pannick is well versed in fighting legal cases for entities to remain in Europe.

And City are willing to pay him £20,000-a-day for his services, meaning he'll earn in excess of the £100,000-a-week pay packets collected by first-team stars John Stones and Gabriel Jesus.

It isn't the first time that Pannick has represented City either, forcing Joe Royle to pay back £467,000 in compensation and legal costs in the Appeal Court after his sacking in 2001. 

And Pannick will now form part of a formidable legal team at City that also includes powerhouses Freshfields, Bruckhaus Deringer, Pinsent Masons and Monkton Chambers.

If City are unsuccessful in overturning their ban, they could lose out on £200 million in prize money and TV revenues. 

But even in that instance, City aren't ruling out taking the case to the Swiss Federal court and have retained Geneva-based Kellerhals Carrard for that very scenario.

So, it's fair to say that City are going all out to keep their place in European football and who better to make that happen than someone with so much experience fighting for 'remain' on the continent?