Managing to keep his Man City side at the peak of their powers for so long is testament to the hard work that Pep Guardiola does day in and day out, however, the Catalan doesn’t appear averse to the odd bit of controversy and what he’s apparently now suggesting could spark a war with UEFA and FIFA.
It’s clear that footballers who are at the elite level are playing more games than ever before, and the standard of football is getting better and better. The physical toll therefore is obvious and why only those teams with deep enough squads are likely to be successful moving forward.
Injuries to key players can perhaps also be blamed on the sheer amount of matches played in any given season, and the fact that pre-season matches are now being turned into worldwide exhibition tournaments which require players to fly to all corners of the globe.
Factor in international matches too and it’s no wonder that some players can’t cope.
It’s clearly come to a head for Guardiola who has suggested that the players take their cue from the Spanish women’s team and go on strike in order to have the problem taken seriously.
“There is only one solution to change something, maybe if all the players decide for themselves to say, ‘Stop’, then you have to change something. And then FIFA, UEFA will maybe react a little bit,” he was quoted as saying by 90Min.
“In this business the show must go on. Without Pep, keep going, but without the players the show will not go on. But it depends on them, if they decide.
“Look at Spain with the women’s team, the players decided to change something and they changed it. They changed something because the players decided that they had something inside to protect the players, and the future of the teams for new generations. The biggest legacy is that.
“The women’s teams in Spain did it, I don’t know if in men’s world football, they will do it.”
It’s an incredibly hostile tactic that isn’t likely to go down well in the corridors of power.
Wearing a yellow ribbon as a gesture of support for imprisoned activists and politicians who campaigned for Catalan independence upset the powers that be too, so Guardiola is clearly used to taking a certain position if he believes that he’s in the right.
He may have bitten off more than he can chew this time though.
you say they play so many games worldwide but they dont refuse the huge pay packet every month you cant have your cake and eat it