Carlo Ancelotti and Xavi Hernandez have strongly backed Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that players should go on strikes to tackle growing match crowding.
After the World Cup in Qatar, which wiped out the European football calendar, the Club World Cup, the World Cup and the Champions League are all preparing to increase the number of matches in their competitions, often by three or at least four additional encounters. Some players could thus be required to play 80 matches or more during the year.
Guardiola’s comments came shortly after the loss of his star player Kevin de Bruyne to a long injury and Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti, who has just lost Eder Militao and Thibaut Courtois for most of the season, has shown itself to be quite favorable to the Manchester City coach.
“How can you disagree with what Guardiola says, totally agree. They are trying to improve the quality of the show, increasing the amount of minutes, the number of matches. It is very simple. To increase the quality, you have to remove a little quantity. That’s what they have to do.
“But the coaches don’t matter, nor the players. Those who make the decisions make them that way – they see that football isn’t as entertaining as it should be, so they add matches to make more money. It is reality.
“That’s the problem. The most affected are the players, who get injured, who cannot bring what they have in terms of quality, because of the fatigue they feel. »
“So I totally agree. When will this change? I do not know. It’s clear that the players are very, very important, and until they get tired of it, it’s hard to change things.
FC Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez held his pre-match press conference shortly after. Although he hasn’t lost anyone to a long-term problem so far this season – game after game – he will be without Ronald Araujo, who is out for a month. This is his 13th injury since joining the club.
Xavi was also asked if he would support Guardiola’s proposal to take industrial action.
“If they offer it…it’s up to them. I refer to what Guardiola said the other day and Ancelotti. It depends on the footballers”.
“They impose a very demanding schedule on us, which is not good, because it causes injuries. There is fatigue, a lot of matches at high temperatures… It’s not good for the show or for the footballers. It depends on them, but all the power belongs to them”.
