“I defend my club” – Pep Guardiola hits out at BBC and the FA for Manchester City fixture scheduling FOUR MONTHS ago

Pep Guardiola has hit back at BBC Sport and the Football Association for their scheduling of Manchester City’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea three months ago.

The latest outburst from the Manchester City coach comes at a time when the Premier League champions’ fixture schedule has become increasingly busy, with two games a week expected for the most part of the ongoing campaign.

The last few weeks have seen the introduction of UEFA Champions League and Carabao Cup fixtures onto Manchester City’s agenda, with the former having been revamped and expanded via a brand new League Phase replacing the Group Stage of the competition.

As such, all clubs are guaranteed a total of eight matches with four played at home and four played away, with the League Phase of the Champions League not concluding until late January.

For Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, the latest chaos surrounding their schedule has brought back memories of a chaotic moment towards the end of last season that stretched the Etihad Stadium club’s roster to their very limits.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Guardiola was again keen to hit out at the BBC and Football Association’s decision to schedule City’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on a Saturday, following a Wednesday night meeting with Real Madrid last season.

“We played on Wednesday against Real Madrid in the quarter-final of the Champions League, extra-time, and why did we not play on Sunday (in the FA Cup semi-final)?” Guardiola reflected, following a new season of controversial scheduling decisions.

“The broadcaster said, ‘No it’s because it’s more audience, more ratings, audience’, no it was completely the opposite. (Manchester) United, against a Championship team in Coventry that was amazing, they had more audience.

“If the game is good, the people will watch it. So why could we not play on Sunday?! This is what is difficult for me to understand. And they said, ‘Ah we have to defend our product’, the broadcasters. I don’t defend my product, I defend my club and my players, these are the things that are difficult for me to understand. It’s why?! Why?!”

Guardiola continued by bringing the subject back to the present season, and notably the decision to make Manchester City take on Watford in the Carabao Cup third round just 49 hours after their Premier League clash with Arsenal.

“It’s a problem of schedule, there’s no more days,” the 54-year-old said of this month’s chaotic schedule. “A week is seven days, we cannot create eight days a week, nine days a week, no, that is not going to happen, just seven days.

“So you have to fix all the games and the schedule is so tight, a lot of games, so it’s impossible to handle it. It’s just go for it, that’s why Bernardo was (angry after Chelsea in the 2024 FA Cup semi-final), me, all of us, because we were absolutely destroyed.

“I said before the game, ‘You are sad, right? We are tired? Yeah’, we are not going to change that feeling. We went through against Madrid, no we could not do it, we are disappointed, and you need time to process that defeat, to process everything. Then you play against Chelsea!

“You go there and you don’t give me one more day, why? Why not? Give us one more day, why not? It was the same for them, but that’s why I said that next season it’s going to happen the same. One day we will decide and they will not think about it. But it is what it is.”

Manchester City return to club duties following the first international break of the season by welcoming Brentford to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon, before attentions turn to European action with a clash against Inter in the League Phase of the Champions League.