Pep Guardiola was speaking before today’s FA Cup final between Man City and Crystal Palace
Arne Slot and Pep Guardiola before Man City 0-2 Liverpool.(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City have been unfairly treated by the Premier League and their scheduling of games. Guardiola has questioned why the Premier League could not be as accommodating with his side as they have with other English teams in finals.
The Catalan is furious about the scheduling of City’s penultimate fixture of the season, against Bournemouth on Tuesday, 72 hours after today’s FA Cup final against Crystal Palace at Wembley.
Asked if his preference would be for it to take place on Wednesday or Thursday instead, Guardiola said: “Definitely. Tottenham played against Aston Villa on Friday ahead of the Europa League final [on Wednesday].
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“Good decision, I’m not being sarcastic. The Premier League made a good decision, very good.We played all the time on Wednesday and [then] we play on Saturday.
“This season we didn’t play [in a Champions League quarter-final] and we played [on] Sunday [in the FA Cup]. We didn’t need that day extra.
“People say it [the schedule] is for broadcasters, more fans or followers and other things. The previous year they had more followers on the other game, not our game.
“They are tired of seeing us. We have been fighting against these situations for nine years, every single season and nothing goes.
“We are going to play Tuesday night against one of the most intense and physical and direct and powerful teams in the Premier League – Bournemouth, who are playing for the Europa League or Conference qualification. It will be tough.”
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But while City are involved in an incredibly tight race for Champions League qualification next season, Liverpool, on the other hand, are sitting comfortably as Premier League champions.
The Reds head to Brighton & Hove Albion on Monday, and Arne Slot admitted yesterday that motivating his side for the final two matches of the season may be an issue.
He said: “I think the honest answer is yes, although I cannot look into all of their heads.
“But I think it’s clear to everyone that if we would still compete for the Premier League then there would have been a few days off as well but probably we wouldn’t have gone somewhere else.
“There is a difference but if I look at the way we played the Arsenal game, I saw a team that wanted to compete from the first second until the last.”