Ahead of BVB clash: star coach Guardiola takes surprise step | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund faces Manchester City in the Champions League – but Pep Guardiola is already causing a stir beforehand. The star coach is skipping the usual final training session and surprises with an unusual plan.

Pep Guardiola has caused a stir ahead of the Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund. The Manchester City coach skipped the usual final training session the day before the match – and instead gave his team the day off.

Normally, UEFA requires clubs to hold a training session the day before a match, with at least 15 minutes open to the media. However, according to the Daily Mail, Manchester City instead submitted 15 minutes of video footage from the previous day’s session. The association accepted this “alternative arrangement,” allowing Guardiola to give his team a break.

At the press conference, the 54-year-old explained his approach: “I’ve done this a few times before, not often, but a few times. Sometimes I prefer it when we don’t see each other. The game against Bournemouth was so exhausting, so I’d rather stay at home.” The coach also announced: “Tomorrow morning we’ll train.”

With this, Guardiola postponed the final training session to match day itself – a rather unusual measure in European football. For him, however, it was clearly a conscious decision: after the 3-1 win in the Premier League against AFC Bournemouth, the Spaniard wanted to give his players more time to recover.

Haaland looks forward to seeing old BVB friends again

At the same time, Guardiola took the opportunity to criticize the tightly packed English fixture schedule. “In Germany and France, they always try to play on Friday, here it’s exactly the opposite,” said the Catalan, referring to BVB, who had two more days of rest.

Whether UEFA will respond to this “Pep trick” in the future remains to be seen. Two years ago, Guardiola had already skipped a training session before a crucial Premier League match – and City won 4-1 at the time. Meanwhile, Erling Haaland looked forward to seeing some old acquaintances again. The former Dortmund player joined Guardiola at the press conference and greeted the journalists present in a charming manner: “Hi Guys, guten Tag, if there are any Germans here.”

Whether Pep Guardiola’s unusual measure will bear fruit this time will be seen on Wednesday evening against BVB.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.