“I was never so angry as that!” – Pep Guardiola reveals fury at injuries sustained on England duty | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed his fury at players returning to the club injured last season following friendly games with England.

Questions have largely been sparked as Kyle Walker returned to the club last week with a knee problem, having featured for England in their UEFA Nations League action against Finland away from home.

It is not the first time that Manchester City have endured injury problems during international commitments, with Nathan Ake notably picking up a hamstring problem with the Netherlands during the September break.

Kyle Walker also picked up a hamstring injury in an international friendly for England against Brazil during the crunch phase of Manchester City’s run-in last season, ruling him out of mammoth contests against the likes of Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.

Speaking to the press on Tuesday afternoon, looking ahead to City’s return to action in the Champions League against Sparta Prague, Pep Guardiola was quizzed on his reaction to injuries sustained whilst on England duty in friendly games last season.

“I was never as so angry like that moment. Never, ever before I was so disappointed,” Guardiola revealed.

“It was a friendly game. And we were playing quarter-finals [of the UEFA Champions League] against [Real] Madrid, and the Premier League to win it, and from friendly games for two players to come back injured. I didn’t like it, at all!”

Guardiola did clarify that while he always encourages his players to take up the opportunity to represent their respective nations, injuries cannot happen in friendly matches and must be avoided, especially at crucial phases of the season for their club.

“Always I encourage them to go to national teams, it’s a pleasure. But if it’s a friendly game, you cannot come back injured! I’m sorry. If you are focussed, in a friendly game you cannot come back injured when you are playing quarter-finals of the Champions League,” he said.

“Because there is a lot of work here. They are the first to make a lot of work behind, to arrive in the last stages of the season with the chance to win titles. We are well-paid here, the club pays us. Not the national teams. So you have to respect the club.

“In friendly games, you cannot be injured. You can play, absolutely. But you cannot come back injured. If you are here, you cannot come back injured.”

Manchester City come into their third meeting of the ongoing UEFA Champions League season off the back of a dramatic win over Wolves on Sunday afternoon, with John Stones firing home a header from close range in the dying seconds of the encounter.

It is the second last-minute goal scored by Stones this season, as the Englishman continues to build on his already-mammoth reputation and legacy at the Etihad Stadium built since first joining the club in 2016.