Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has slammed UEFA and FIFA following the governing bodies of football are putting too many games on the plate of today’s professional footballers.
“They are human beings, they are not machines. I know the players some of them are upset all the time because they want to play every day but this is not possible.” Guardiola said.
“To compete in all competitions in this year without spectators, in the shortest competition ever, if you don’t rotate you don’t compete in all competitions and you will not be in the position we are in now.
“Of course they could play, they have an incredible mentality but they need rest. UEFA and FIFA killed the players because it’s too much. We haven’t had one midweek off since we started, not even one.” Guardiola added.
The Spaniard insisted that, in case of not rotating their players, the teams cannot compete or pursue the first places in European competitions.
“There is no player who can sustain this, not just physically but mentally to be ready every day to compete against opponents to win the game. It’s impossible.” Guardiola said.
“I rotate I’m a genius, ‘well done Pep’ but when we lose and I rotate people say ‘why rotate? You have to play the players like normal’. But it’s unsustainable. The next game we are going to play fresh legs and against Leeds, more than ever, fresh legs.” he added.
In the same way, Guardiola accused that his side is still active because they have an incredible mentality, but reiterated, as at the beginning of his conference, that they need rest.
The Premier League is the only major league in Europe that does not allow five substitutions per game and keeps it at three, despite the busy match schedule for its teams.
