Why Manchester City could face Uefa punishment for cancelling training session ahead of Champions League tie | OneFootball

Manchester City could face disciplinary action from Uefa for cancelling a training session which was supposed to have been filmed by broadcasters around the world.

Pep Guardiola decided to give his players a day off before their Champions League second leg match against Real Madrid, meaning only captain Bernardo Silva, who was doing media interviews and attending a press conference, was at their Etihad training ground on Monday.

But in doing so, at short notice and without approval from European football’s governing body, they breached Uefa rules. While City provided footage from a previous training session, Uefa have broadcast contracts worth around £2.9bn per year for their club competitions and they include a requirement to show the players training the day before a game.

Uefa Article 78 reads: “If a club does not hold a full training session on the day before the match, alternative arrangements must be made in agreement with Uefa to provide the media with access to a minimum of 15 minutes of the team’s preparation (e.g. stadium walk-around).

“Training sessions on the day before the match may be broadcast live regardless of location, and clubs must provide facilities for such live broadcasts, including cable routes and parking for TV vehicles.”

Guardiola, who has given players a day off before a game before, explained that City’s busy schedule was the reason for his decision.

They lost 3-0 to Real in Madrid last Wednesday and then drew 1-1 away at West Ham on Saturday and will train on Tuesday before their rematch with Alvaro Arbeloa’s team.

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Pep Guardiola gave his players the day off (PA Wire)

And he added: “We were in Madrid, we arrived late in the hotel, we start to sleep, come back in the morning, travel here. They day after, no training here, [we] go to London, arrived [back Sunday] at 2.30am. So, today you recover, today you cannot do anything, because the players who play, they are still at home. And tomorrow we train.

“We do not have to train. Something like a repetition for the training will make us to play better the game against Madrid. Because today in the modern football, in the top teams, the training does not much improve a lot. It's to understand what you have to do, because you don't have time to train.

"So I prefer today, everyone [is at] home, and for me as well, and tomorrow instead of arriving at 3 or 4 [o’clock], we arrive at 2. Instead of training today, we'd rather be at home with our families, to rest and send each other WhatsApp messages.”

Midfielder Silva said: “We've done it in the past plenty of times: when we lost games, when we won games, when the manager felt that it was the best for the team. With all the trips that we had this week, I think he just thought that it would be best for us to sleep better, to stay at home one more day, to free a bit our minds and come back tomorrow stronger and ready for the game.”