JABAR EKSPRES – Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola, expects a number of his injured players to recover soon ahead of the FA Cup final which will be held this weekend.
“To play the final we have to play players who feel better. Not because they played because they got a lot of minutes to play before,” Pep Guardiola said quoted from the club’s official website, Monday (5/29).
This season’s Premier League champions Manchester City fielded their second-tier team in the final match against Brentford, at the Gtech Stadium, Sunday (28/5), because many core players are injured and experiencing fitness problems.
Brentford, who acted as the host, were able to beat Manchester City, 1-0 through Ethan Pinnock’s only goal in the 85th minute.
“We have four or five players with minor problems, not major injuries, but they have injuries that are not too serious. In addition, the players who did not play in this match were really tired the day before and mentally, they were really drained,” said the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach.
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The Citizens appeared without a number of star players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji due to injuries and physical fitness problems.
“It’s not a big problem, I think they will be ready (for the FA Cup final). They have to be ready for the training session and I will see them in the next three days and that’s why today is very important to see these players and how they are,” said Guardiola.
Guardiola in the match also decided to reserve core team players such as captain Ilkay Gundogan, Erling Haaland, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and John Stones. During the 90 minutes, Guardiola made practically only one substitution by withdrawing defender Nathan Ake to be replaced by Shea Carles.
