Guardiola explains decision to give his Man City players the day off before Real Madrid match | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has explained his decision to give his Manchester City players a day off before their game against Real Madrid.

The City players will not train on Monday ahead of their second leg round of 16 Champions League clash, as they look to pull off an unlikely comeback with Guardiola’s side trailing 3-0 from the first leg.

“We train tomorrow,” Guardiola said.

“We were in Madrid, we arrived late in the hotel to sleep, came back in the morning, travel here. Then the day after here, no training, go to London, arrive here yesterday at 2:30am, so today is recovery.

“Today we can’t do anything because the players who played are still at home and tomorrow we train. It’s not like repetition of training will make us play better in the game against Madrid because today in modern football, the top teams don’t train to improve a lot because we don’t have time to train.

“Tomorrow, instead of arriving at 3pm or 4pm, we arrive at 2pm, move a little bit our legs… and go.

“I did it two or three times this season so it’s not the first time.

“When it is two or three days difference, sometimes I say train and sometimes I say stay at home.”