The Manchester City boss had every right to lay into the BBC for ensuring his players had less than three days rest before their FA Cup semi-final
Gary Lineker and his colleagues were standing with Pep Guardiola on the Wembley turf after Manchester City had seen off Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final. They expected him to gush about how pleased he was with his players for overcoming a punishing and draining Champions League elimination at the hands of Real Madrid to make it to the FA Cup final.
Instead, Lineker quickly found himself on the backfoot in the face of an impassioned speech from Guardiola over the fact that City's game had been scheduled so soon after their last outing, while the other semi-final between Manchester United and Coventry City, neither of whom had played in midweek, was organised for the Sunday.
"It's unacceptable" were the first words out of the City boss's mouth. "It's really unacceptable. Because I’ve won I have the courage to tell you. For the health of the players, it’s not normal. I don’t understand how we survived today. Why play today and not tomorrow, when Coventry, Chelsea, and United didn’t play in the midweek? Why not have one more day for the health of the players? Tell me how you prepare this final against Chelsea in the best moment of the season. How? It’s impossible. There’s no chance."
Guardiola's speech might have looked like a rant, but he had every right to decry the insane scheduling which continues to compromise the world's best players. And the television companies and governing bodies need to listen to him, because if potential audience targets continue to be prioritised over player welfare, football is in danger of eating itself.
Getty Damaging the product
City had almost disproved Guardiola's assertion by winning the match, but they did so by the skin of their teeth after being let off the hook by Nicolas Jackson's profligacy. As Frank Lampard put it: "This was not Manchester City They haven't got the spark in the legs, the energy of the press, the sharpness, the killer instinct."
Lampard added that that City's victory was down to "character", but most viewers tuning in to the game do not want to see character; they want to see skill, players running at full pelt and at their sharpest. They want to see energy, they want to see killer instinct. And that's what sums up the contradiction at the heart of this issue.
Television companies want the best matches possible and the most excitement. But if players are unable to play to their maximum as they do not have enough time to recover, the matches will be bland and spectators, both in the stadium and on TV, will feel short-changed.
Saturday's semi-final was, for large parts, an uninspiring match. It was in total contrast to Sunday's incredible game between United and Coventry. Would Coventry have been able to stage their unbelievable fightback if they had been in action on Thursday night? It seems highly unlikely.
AdvertisementGetty Just 66 hours to rest
Every athlete is different and a player in their mid-to-late 20s will often be able to cope better with a compressed schedule than a player in their late 30s, but sports scientists agree that athletes need a minimum of 72 hours for their muscles to make a full recovery.
A paper in the British Medical Journal explained that while performance recovery can be achieved within 48 hours, underlying mechanisms of muscle recovery are still in progress for up to 72 hours. In other words, muscles are still damaged for as long as three whole days after a match, making it risky to use them again at full intensity before the time has elapsed.
City's game with Chelsea kicked off 66 hours after their game with Madrid had finished. And this was their hardest and most important match of the season, one that lasted an extra half-an-hour plus penalties.
The FA did not know that Madrid and City's game would go to extra-time, but given how high the stakes were and how evenly matched the teams are, it was hardly surprising that it did. And even had it been settled by 90 minutes, City still would have had just 67 hours to recover before facing Chelsea, five below the time scientists agree players need to recover.
Getty'Plausible explanation'
Guardiola took John Stones off at half-time, but he did not suffer any major injuries during the game, although Erling Haaland, who had also asked to be substituted against Madrid, missed the trip to Wembley with a muscle injury. City are fortunate not to have a busier treatment room, because there is an established link between shorter recovery times and the rising number of injuries in top-level football.
A systematic review into the impact of match congestion on injuries by sports scientists from the Manchester Metropolitan University and Edge Hill University in 2023 revealed that overall, injury risk increased during these periods.
"It is clear from the review congested calendars in football are increasing the risk of injury for the players," said Dr Adam Field, lecturer in Sport Science and Elite Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University, of the paper's findings. "We suggest that the lack of rest time between matches is a plausible explanation, with players having insufficient time to recover, which might then impact injury in subsequent matches.
"From a scientific perspective, we know that the repetition of changes of direction, rapid accelerations and decelerations and sprints throughout a football match lead to fatigue, inflammation and muscle damage. These changes might result in an increase in soft tissue stress, reduce the ability of muscles to work effectively and changes the way a player moves, which might lead to further injuries.."
Getty ImagesDe Bruyne's battered hamstrings
City felt the impact of their unforgiving schedule last year when Kevin De Bruyne tore his hamstring during the Champions League final against Inter, and the same thing happened on the first day of the current campaign against Burnley, forcing him to have surgery.
But what was most alarming about the episode was that De Bruyne knew that it was only a matter of time before his hamstring gave way. It was a case of when, not if, his muscles would tear. Yet he kept playing in almost every game.
“I had been struggling for two months, but I was able to hold on well and with the club we were able to manage everything. I was able to arrange to be there at the right time," he revealed last November. "I still had a lot of stress in that final. Because of all those movements, I may have made the crack a little bigger. But it was worth it."
De Bruyne likened his hamstrings to "a wet kitchen towel" and compared his surgery to "a major maintenance like you do with your car". De Bruyne was unable to play in extra-time against Real Madrid as he was so tired.
Stones has missed most of the season due to a series of injuries, while Jack Grealish's campaign has also been marked by long periods out due to groin problems. Some players have been able to keep going, such as Rodri, but even the Spaniard pleaded for a rest earlier this month. Rodri has looked way off his usual best in recent weeks, another example of the negative impact of the gruelling calendar.