Pep Guardiola sarcastically ‘thanks’ the Premier League for giving Man City a turnaround from Wednesday to Saturday after the Super Cup as he bans Jack Grealish and co from drinking alcohol during their celebrations
Pep Guardiola couldn’t hide his frustration at Manchester City’s already packed schedule following their UEFA Super Cup victory on penalties against Sevilla on Wednesday.
Last season’s Champions League winners recovered from an early concession to Youssef En-Nesryi to equalize through youngster Cole Palmer before triumphing on penalties.
After watching his side come through a tough 120-minute training session in Greece, Guardiola made sure to target the Premier League following the decision to schedule their next game on Saturday night.
And even joked that the 72-hour turnaround meant celebration of their first win would have to limit the game to soft drinks.
“Of course we will be even happier tomorrow than today,” the Spaniard told reporters after the game. ‘Recovered, not a drop of alcohol today.
Pep Guardiola faces a race against time to prepare his team for a tough game against Newcastle on Saturday night
Guardiola hinted that the celebration of their first UEFA Super Cup will be very different to the one after City won the Champions League late last season
Cole Palmer leveled the scores for City in the second half after grabbing Rodri’s pitch and sending home a header
“Recover as much as possible, because once again from Greece, thank you so much to the Premier League for letting us play on Saturday and not on Sunday or Monday. Thank you so much.’
The scenes following Wednesday’s victory will be a far cry from those following City’s historic treble celebrations last semester. Winger Jack Grealish led the festivities in June, which kicked off with a £10,000 all-night celebration following their 1-0 win in the Champions League final against Inter Milan.
The 27-year-old’s exploits were well documented at the time and he took every opportunity to celebrate the special occasion, flying to Ibiza with several other City stars, including Erling Haaland, for the Citizens’ title-winning parade.
The party started right after Manchester City’s victory over Inter Milan in June
Grealish and Erling Haaland celebrated winning the club’s first UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla
The City boss made four changes to the side that saw a 3-0 win over Burnley on the opening day and gave a first full debut to £72 million signing Josko Gvardiol at the Karaiskakis Stadium.
The Citizens were, of course, without Kevin De Bruyne, who suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury he suffered in last season’s Champions League final and is expected to be out for several months.
Meanwhile, defenders John Stones and Ruben Dias, who were both surprisingly absent for last Friday’s game at Turf Moor, made the trip to Europe but were unused substitutes.
City welcome early table toppers Newcastle to the Etihad on Saturday night, buoyed by their thumping 5-1 win against Aston Villa on the first day.
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