Pep Guardiola advised his players to “sleep, sleep, sleep” before the Manchester City semifinals for the FA Cup against Liverpool on Saturday.
The match will be the second for City against the team of Jurgen Klopp in seven days after the draw in the Premier League on Sunday and their third match in the week after the draw on Wednesday at Atletico Madrid. Although Guardiola would have preferred a less busy schedule, he has no complaints that City are competing on all fronts at the defining end of the campaign.
“It happens for one reason: because we are fighting for all the titles,” he said. “This is good news; I say it with a big smile, not that I’m angry. I am so happy to live like this. This is not an ideal situation, but where in this world is the ideal situation?
“Look what’s happening two or three hours from here [the Russia-Ukraine war]. So for tomorrow, I tell my players, “Eat well, sleep a lot, take a nap. Sleep, sleep, sleep – many hours, as many hours as possible, then good food and tomorrow at 3.30 we will be there [for the kick-off]”
Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker are in serious doubt after suffering leg and ankle injuries in Madrid. “They didn’t train today,” Guardiola said. “We will see tomorrow, but obviously it will [too] closed after what happened on Wednesday. He [Walker] there was a big turnaround and it is improving, but we will see the process in the next hours and the next days for the next matches. “
Zack Steffen was the goalkeeper for the City Cup in place of Ederson, the club’s number one. Guardiola has not decided whether the American will start against Liverpool.
The Fiver: register and receive our daily football email.
“I’ll think about it,” he said. “We still have time to train tonight [Friday] and then talk to doctors and physiotherapists about the condition of many players. I’ll decide tonight or tomorrow morning, but of course in the FA Cup we usually play with Zack. “
This is the fifth semifinal of the FA Cup for City under Guardiola, although they reached only one final. “It’s an incredible achievement and it shows our consistency,” he said. “But we did not perform well in these semi-final matches [that were lost]. We hope we can perform a little better. We have a chance to reach the final of a storybook tournament. ”
Add Comment