Carlo Ancelotti and Xavi Hernandez have come out and strongly backed Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that players should begin strikes against the increasing fixture congestion at the top level of football.
Following on from the Qatar World Cup which squeezed the European football calendar to breaking point, the Club World Cup, the World Cup and the Champions League are all set to increase the number of games in their competitions, often by and extra three or four fixtures at least. This could result in some players being asked to play 80 or more games over the year.
Guardiola’s comments came shortly after he lost star player Kevin de Bruyne to a lengthy injury, and Real Madrid Manager Carlo Ancelotti, who has just lost Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois for most of the season, was completely behind the Manchester City manager.
“How can you not be in agreement with what Guardiola says, completely agree with that. They try to improve the quality of the spectacle, by increasing the quantity of minutes, the number of games. It’s quite simple. In order to increase the quality, you need to take away some of the quantity. That’s what they have to do.
“But the coaches don’t matter at all and neither do the players. Those who take the decisions take them in this sense – they see that football is not as entertaining as it should be, so they add more games in order to make more money. That’s the reality.”
“That’s the problem. The ones who are most affected are the players, who get injured, they cannot bring what they have in terms of quality, because of the tiredness they feel.”
“So I completely agree with this. When will it change? I don’t know. It’s clear that the players are a very, very important, until they get tired of it, it’s hard to change.”
Pep Guardiola, en directo con @Rsierraplus, sobre la lesión de @KevinDeBruyne:
"Es lo que hay. En mi primera pretemporada tuve 25 días para preparar el primer partido. Ahora te dan 4 días. Y al final mira cuantos cruzados…". #LaCasaDelFútbol pic.twitter.com/nv6MQoCRqY
— Fútbol en Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarFutbol) August 15, 2023
Barcelona Manager Xavi Hernandez held his pre-match press conference shortly afterwards. While he has not lost anyone to a long-term problem yet this season – one game in – he will be without Ronald Araujo, who is injured for a month. It is his 13th injury since arriving at the club.
Xavi was also asked if he would back Guardiola’s suggestion of industrial action.
“If they propose it… it depends on them. I refer to the words of Guardiola the other day and Ancelotti. It depends on the footballers.”
“They force us into such a demanding calendar, which is not good, it causes injuries. There is tiredness, fatigue, lots of games at high temperatures… It’s not good for the spectacle or for the footballers. It depends on them, but all power to them.”
This issue has been raised by a number of footballers, although not specifically in terms of a strike, but rather complaint. Thibaut Courtois has been one of the most vociferous critics of the fixture congestion, and cruelly was struck down by an anterior cruciate ligament injury himself.
In addition, last season Real Madrid and Barcelona met five times. There wasn’t a single game where at least one of the teams was not missing two or more of their key players, meaning fans were not able to see both teams at their best in the biggest fixture of the year.
Interesting
i miss football in the 2000s it was pure quality.
The managers aren’t whining here. The science completely supports what they’re saying.
Unless the leagues (and the federations) are trying to level the playing field by having the bigger clubs injured all the time, they should know better and make the necessary corrections.