‘IT’S UNACCEPTABLE TO PLAY TODAY,’ CITY BOSS PEP GUARDIOLA LAMENTS PLAYING IN FA CUP SEMIFINAL LESS THAN THREE DAYS AFTER CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL GAME AGAINST REAL MADRID
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was livid after his side’s 1-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup semi final on Saturday that they had been scheduled to play less three days after they played Spanish giants Real Madrid in the quarter finals of the Champions League.
City were hoping to become the first team in European football history to win a consecutive treble and were 120 minutes away from keeping that dream alive on Wednesday before they eventually lost to Real Madrid on penalties. After a full 90 minutes plus added time in a high-pressure game, Guardiola felt like his side deserved more than the two-day rest they were handed by the FA.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Guardiola said: “It’s unacceptable to play today. It’s unacceptable. It’s not normal. For the health of the players, after 120 minutes, it’s unacceptable. I don’t understand how we survived today. Nothing is going to change. Nothing.”
Guardiola also lamented the fact that City had to play on Saturday while Manchester United, who play Coventry City today, had to play on Sunday while they didn’t have a game midweek.
“Why don’t you give us one more day, for the health of the players, to arrive on Sunday?” he went on. “Because Coventry, Chelsea, and Man United, they don’t play in the Champions League. They don’t play in the Europa League, they don’t play in midweek. For broadcasters? Ok. Don’t ask me after to do extra things because we’re not going to do it. It’s unacceptable to play today.”
“So we play in incredible, difficult conditions and the game was tight.”
The Spaniard has lost some of his players to injury in recent weeks and has had to rotate players such as Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bryune, Phil Foden, and Mateo Kovacic in and out of the side in multiple competitions. Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, for example, didn’t feature for the squad on Saturday as the team announced he was dealing with a muscle injury.
Guardiola, however, praised his players for their resilience under the conditions. “Chelsea had incredible chances in transition,” said Guardiola. “They controlled the game well because we made a lot of easy balls to lose, because we were tired.”
“Some players make an incredible effort, what they have done today is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen in a group of players. 120 minutes against Madrid, physically, emotionally, the day after recovery, yesterday [Friday] in the morning, just say ‘hi’, you can’t prepare absolutely anything, four hours to arrive from Manchester to here, [and] play the game in these conditions?”
“I don’t understand how we survived but at the same time we’re very pleased. It shows again how we are, these players [how] they are and at the end of the season we will come back here to play against United or Coventry in the final of the FA Cup again.”
Portuguese midfielder, Bernardo Silva, who scored the winning goal for City on Saturday reiterated his manager’s sentiments in an interview after the game. “Today was too much,” said Silva. “Because we played 120 minutes less than three days ago and we had to play against a team that didn’t travel because they’re from London, and that had five days to wait and think about our game.”
“There was no excuse for the game to not be tomorrow [Sunday]. It’s not unacceptable. For all of us, like the team, that’s the way we feel.”
Asked if he thought the FA would change that in the future, Silva said, “I don’t know. It looks like they don’t care because we’ve said it many times. It’s not about wanting to be favored. No, no, it’s about health. I played 90 minutes today, me, Kevin [De Bryune], Phil [Foden], and I wasn’t fine at all. I wasn’t fine, I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t. I was feeling my left hamstring, I was feeling my right calf. And this is not fair for Man City, this is not fair for us…”
“So I think they [the FA] have to just pay a little bit more attention to these little details because we represent England in the European competitions. And it’s important for England, to give points to this country, for other teams to qualify for the Champions League, for the Europa League, for the Conference League. So they need to pay a bit more attention to these details.”
The win on Saturday means Manchester City now advance to the FA Cup final and will have to wait to see who comes out on top between Manchester United and Coventry City on Sunday for their final next month.
As for the Premier League title race, the defending champions still have control of their own destiny and will win the title for a record fourth-straight time if they win out. City are only a point behind leaders Arsenal after Saturday’s games but have a game in hand.
City’s rivals Liverpool could also leapfrog the defending champions if they win on Sunday at Fulham but fullback Trent Alexander-Arnold believes the Cityzens hold the advantage going down the stretch.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the England international said of the recent treble winners, “When you do lose at one point and you give them [Manchester City] the upper hand, it’s difficult because they don’t, they don’t really blink in those moments.
“They don’t seem vulnerable, they don’t seem like they’re going to drop points. It’s like a well-oiled machine. It’s just like, it’s what they do, they click and there’s no stopping them. So, to give them the advantage with, what, six games to go is almost handing them the title, I think.”
While the holders might seem durable and lacking vulnerability from the outside, Guardiola and his side don’t hold themselves in such high regard and would like the schedule makers to be considerate of circumstances by all teams involved when scheduling games.
-Maher Abucheri
Twitter: @pabloikonyero
Photo: Arnaucc. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.