Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva has slammed football’s schedule makers for lacking respect and fairness after his side were given little time to prepare for their clash with Arsenal.
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City kicked off their 1-1 draw at the Emirates Stadium just 66 hours after the final whistle in the Champions League home win over Napoli.
While Pep Guardiola’s team had virtually no time to rest and recover from the Napoli game before the crucial Premier League showdown in north London, Arsenal had played their Champions League opener at Athletic Bilbao 48 hours earlier.
Silva felt City’s tiredness was decisive as Arsenal dominated after Erling Haaland’s early strike before snatching a stoppage-time equaliser through Gabriel Martinelli.
Guardiola had named an unchanged side against Arsenal rather than rotating his players, but Silva is convinced it was the pressure of the fixture list that was to blame for City’s late frustration.
“The reality is we cannot come in to one of the most important games in the season with such a disadvantage, in terms of rest. It is not fair to play one of these games like this. It is just not right,” he said.
“They had five days and we had two and a half days. In one of the most important games, this cannot happen. It is just not enough.
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“I wasn’t feeling in a perfect condition to play like this, and people who have not played at the highest level don’t know how it feels to play a game like this. You need to be at your best condition.
“We saw (Abdukodir) Khusanov getting injured because these games demand a lot. I feel it is just frustrating that we couldn’t be at our best level simply because of the decision of someone that thinks it is fair to come away after two and a half less days than Arsenal.” Echoing the complaints of many of his peers as the demands on players grow, Silva believes such a quick turnaround is too much of a burden to shoulder.
“Look, the schedule is the schedule and I understand you have different competitions, and UEFA, the Premier League, and the broadcasters want to make their money,” he said.
“What we ask for is common sense because this is one of the biggest games of the season. The players need to be in the same physical conditions otherwise I don’t think it is fair.”
Silva said attempts to complain to the game’s lawmakers would be fruitless.
“They don’t listen to us. We would like to change something. But it never changes,” he said.
“It does not really matter, but for the fans, for the respect of the clubs, and for the fairness of the competition, I don’t think what happened was good.”
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