Man City boss Pep Guardiola takes sarcastic swipe before Everton clash

Pep Guardiola took a pop at Premier League organisers on Friday as his Manchester City side face a tight turnaround between upcoming clashes with Everton and Real Madrid. The Sky Blues are still in with a shout of completing a silverware treble this campaign, although the matches continue to come thick and fast.

City put in an almighty shift on Tuesday evening, coming away from the Bernabeu with a 1-1 draw against Madrid. Los Blancos are set to visit the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, which remains finely poised.

The high-stakes showdown is sure to feature in Guardiola’s thinking as he prepares his troops to face Everton at Goodison Park. The Toffees are fighting for their top-flight survival, while City cannot afford many slip-ups amid their white-knuckle Premier League title race with Arsenal.

In a sarcastic pop at those overseeing the congested fixture list, which has left City with just three days to pick themselves up and dust themselves down before Madrid come to town, Guardiola said in his latest press conference: “We play on a Sunday, thank you so much!”

Acknowledging that those in charge may not be entirely at fault, the ex-Barcelona boss added: “I’m sure the Premier League want to help teams, they don’t want to make us uncomfortable, but the problem is the schedule.

“This amount of competitions, this amount of games. I think we cannot play on Saturday because there is Eurovision and the city does not have enough bodies, or the capability to handle so many people.”

“Every player is ready,” added the City boss. “Every player is ready to play and give his own contribution. I thought a lot in the last few minutes [against Real Madrid] about making a substitution but I decided not to.

“The players on the bench are so dynamic in their movements – Phil [Foden], Julian [Alvarez] and Riyad [Mahrez] – but in that moment we didn’t need that. Everyone will be important with so many games [left].”