Liverpool and Manchester City met in what will undoubtedly be the knockout round of the Carabao Cup and Pep Guardiola has outlined the difficulties of putting together a squad a few days before the World Cup final.
Speaking to the media ahead of his team’s game against Brentford, the Spaniard was asked how he can prepare to face the Reds in such a short amount of time, saying: “He [Klopp] He’s going to play left back and I’m going to play holding midfielder, that’s my strategy. I don’t know how many players Liverpool will have, I don’t know how many players we will have.
“I know that Riyadh [Mahrez]Erling [Haaland]Sergio [Gomez]rich [Lewis] and the rest of the people do not go to the World Cup, as I said before, some are going to go through a stage [in the World Cup] and some will not pass a stage, round of 16, quarter-finals and that depends on that.
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The former Barcelona manager went on to explain how it all depends on which round they knock their players out of the tournament; if they are out in the group stage, they should be able to play Jurgen Klopp’s side, but everything else is a mystery.
It is an unprecedented situation for both teams and for football around the world, as players return and clubs have to balance their fitness and morale, but also have to return to working days after the end of the tournament.
While it would be nice to see both managers starting the game at the Etihad, it’s probably best that Andy Robertson takes his position at left-back for the League Cup clash.
You can watch Guardiola’s thoughts on the team’s fitness before the game with Liverpool (starting at 5:36) via football content on YouTube:
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