‘We have four or five senior players’: Pep Guardiola hits out at English football chiefs over Man City’s schedule – sarcastically branding them ‘the big brains of football’ – with his side facing Liverpool in the Carabao Cup FOUR DAYS after World Cup final
Pep Guardiola took aim at the authorities after Erling Haaland scored on his return to action for Manchester City.
Kevin De Bruyne – who also found the net during the friendly victory over sister club Girona – and Ilkay Gundogan were the only players available to have featured at the World Cup.
City face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup fourth round on Thursday night and Guardiola bemoaned the short turnaround from the World Cup final to domestic football’s return.
Pep Guardiola is not happy with the ‘big brains of football’ about the return of the club game
‘We have four or five (senior) players,’ Guardiola said. ‘We’ll have to see how they’re coming back.
‘We don’t have players but the big brains of football, with their thoughts, made this schedule so we’ll play.’
Nathan Ake, Aymeric Laporte and Rodri are expected to return to City training early in the week and could feature in the squad for the cup clash against Jurgen Klopp’s side.
Julian Alvarez, who has lit up the tournament with finalists Argentina, will be afforded some days off before linking back up with the Premier League champions.
The 22-year-old has played solidly since February, spending five months with River Plate before joining City over the summer.
Kevin de Bruyne scored for Manchester City in his return to club action after the World Cup
Phil Foden, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Kalvin Phillips, Jack Grealish, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias were all knocked out at the quarter-final stage and City have not yet said how much rest they will be afforded ahead of a league game at Leeds United on December 28.
The 16 representatives City had at the tournament was the most in the division and they are treating each individual player’s recuperation differently. Despite early group stage exits with Germany and Belgium, both Gundogan and De Bruyne resumed training inside a fortnight.
Guardiola added: ‘It was really good as a first game after a long time, especially for some players like Erling and Riyad (Mahrez), who hadn’t played at all. It was good minutes for all of them.’
Ilkay Gundogan is one of the many Manchester City players who featured at the World Cup
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