manager has suggested that could affect his side’s chances of winning the .
City host Real Madrid on Wednesday with a place in the UCL final at stake with the tie at 1-1 following the first-leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Before that however, they travel to Everton on Sunday as they aim to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League table, with .
It means that Guardiola’s team have a full day less to prepare for the semi-final match than Real who play Getafe on Saturday.
In ordinary circumstances, the match at Goodison Park would have been played on the Saturday, however it has been moved due to 2023 Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Liverpool that night.
In his pre-match press conference on Friday, an exasperated Guardiola bemoaned his side’s hectic schedule, saying: ‘I don’t want to be distracted by Real because we have time – not much time because we play Sunday, thank you so much – but the Goodison Park game is a priority.
‘I don’t understand it but I don’t want a fight on that any more. I don’t understand but we have to adapt it.
‘We don’t fight on the schedule from the Premier League, UEFA and so on. It’s not frustrating – how many times can I comment on that? I’m pretty sure that La Liga and the Premier League want to help teams, I don’t think they want to make us uncomfortable.
‘It is the schedule with this amount of games that is the problem. We couldn’t play on Saturday because of Eurovision in Liverpool and we don’t have enough police to do two events at the same time.
‘We would prefer to have more time to prepare but it is what it is. It’s not like in France or Germany where they play on Friday [when teams are in Europe the following midweek].
‘Here, the Premier League is more important and the schedule is the schedule. We cannot swap. I felt it since day one and it’s not going to change.’
With City also in the FA Cup, they could play a total of 61 games this season should they reach the Champions League final.
The Citizens ought to be able to cope however given that they boast a large and highly expensive squad, though Guardiola has surprisingly been reluctant to use subs this season and especially in recent fixtures.
, .
, and .
