Pep Guardiola expressed his frustration at Manchester City‘s congested fixture schedule following their penalty shootout win against Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
Despite conceding an early goal to Youssef En-Nesryi, last season’s Champions League winners managed to equalize through youngster Cole Palmer and eventually clinched the victory in a nail-biting shootout.
Guardiola took the opportunity to aim a dig at the Premier League for scheduling their next game just 72 hours later on Saturday evening.
According to a report by Dailymail.co.uk, Guardiola jokingly mentioned that the short turnaround time would limit their celebrations to soft drinks, stating, “Of course tomorrow we’ll be even happier than today.
Recovered, not one drop of alcohol today. Recover as much as possible because again from Greece, thank you so much to the Premier League to let us play on Saturday not on Sunday or Monday. Thank you so much.”
The scene after Wednesday’s win stands in stark contrast to the historic treble celebrations witnessed last season. After the 1-0 Champions League final win against Inter Milan, winger Jack Grealish led the festivities, including a £10,000 all-night party.
Grealish, along with other City stars such as Erling Haaland, then jetted off to Ibiza to continue the celebrations before the team’s title-winning parade.
In their UEFA Super Cup clash, Guardiola made four changes to the side that secured a 3-0 victory against Burnley on the opening day of the Premier League season.
The manager handed a full debut to their £72m signing, Josko Gvardiol, at the Karaiskakis Stadium. However, the Citizens were without Kevin De Bruyne, who reaggravated his hamstring injury from last season’s Champions League final and is expected to be sidelined for several months.
Defenders John Stones and Ruben Dias, surprise omissions from the last game, were included in the squad but remained unused substitutes.
Coming off the back of an impressive 5-1 win against Aston Villa on matchday one, Manchester City will face early table-toppers Newcastle at the Etihad on Saturday evening. The team will be looking to continue their winning streak and solidify their place at the top of the Premier League standings….READFULL
