Man City star Bernardo Silva has expressed his frustrations at the modern football schedule and is not happy with the new Champions League format.
The midfielder is currently away with the Portugal national team with Roberto Martinez’s team beating Croatia on Thursday night before playing Scotland on Sunday as part of their UEFA Nations League commitments during the current international break.
This comes just weeks after the Premier League getting underway and it is the first time European nations will compete against each other since Euro 2024 this summer.
It has been a crazy few months for footballers and Silva is one man not happy with the modern schedule and the amount of games players are being asked to play.
Speaking to Record, the Man City talent has labelled the modern schedule as “completely crazy” and has expressed his concern regarding the new Champions League format.
“The schedule is completely crazy. We’ve just received the news that we only have one day off for the English League Cup game,” the 30-year-old said via Fabrizio Romano. “We’ll probably play every three days for months. It’s been absolutely absurd.
“In the Champions League, if you don’t qualify for the round of 16 you still have to play two more games. It’s true that the squads are bigger, but I’m not going to say that it’s easy.
“It hasn’t been easy. I spend very little time with my family and friends. The amount of games we’re subjected to is absolutely absurd.”
Man City’s Bernardo Silva is right about the modern schedule
Silva is right about the amount of games modern footballers have to play as the organisations that run the sport continue to add more and more matches. There will be four extra games for some teams in Europe this season and FIFA have expanded the Club World Cup taking place during the summer of 2025.
A player that goes deep in several competions could be looking at playing over 60 games during the current campaign, which is affecting the quality of football being seen – Euro 2024 and the 2024 Copa America being prime examples.
Yes squads are bigger and more subs are being used, however, fans want to see the best players in the world on the pitch for every game. That is possible with fewer matches but it seems that more and more keep getting added as the governing bodies of the sport continue to try and extract as much money as possible out of fans’ pockets.