Manchester City beat Leeds United 1-0 in the 28th round of the Premier League. Pep Guardiola attended the post-match press conference and criticized the FA Cup scheduling, saying it had left City with less time to prepare for Real Madrid.
City will face Newcastle in the FA Cup at 21:00 CET on March 7, with their Champions League round of 16 first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu just four days later. Guardiola said: “I have nothing to say now. Haaland was not ready to play today. We had four days’ rest before Nottingham Forest, then only three days before facing Newcastle in the FA Cup at 20:00. Thank you very much for this schedule, so we can ‘better’ prepare for Real Madrid with less recovery time.”
“We just played the League Cup final and now we have the Champions League straight after. A 15:00 kick-off and a 20:00 kick-off are completely different, but this is the reality. I know all other teams play their FA Cup matches at 15:00 in the afternoon – only we have to play at 20:00 in the evening.”
Guardiola also highlighted the physical and competitive impact of fatigue: “Details decide games, like a corner, a free kick, a throw-in… We have less preparation time. After that match, we have to travel again to Madrid.”
