Premier League reject Manchester City request to escalate tension between pair
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is upset with the Premier League but has also made clear his anger with FIFA after their Club World Cup demands
by Jeremy Cross · The MirrorThe Premier League have rejected Manchester City's request to push back their opening two games of next season.
City wanted the fixtures to be delayed due to their involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup. Pep Guardiola's side will take part in the inaugural competition in the United States next summer, which begins in June and lasts four weeks. The final takes place on July 13.
And while there is as yet no exact date for when next term will begin, it is set to be less than four weeks after that date, due to the World Cup the following summer.
Players are entitled to a three-week break in the close season and Guardiola is looking at the prospect of being without key men when the campaign gets underway - or, if players return early, them already being worn out.
But Premier League bosses have already said no, a move which will create more bad blood between the warring parties.
Guardiola said: "The club asked the Premier League to postpone it, to have more holiday, but it's absolutely not allowed. The Premier League said no. Thank you so much! I don't have the answer. I think we take a decision with common sense!"
Guardiola says enquiries about a potential delay for City have so far fallen on deaf ears and he does not expect that to change.
This comes at a time of strained relations between the club and league as City face a hearing into 115 charges of alleged rule-breaking, including a failure to co-operate with an investigation.
The City boss added: “I think the club asked the Premier League, (for) the first or second game, to postpone it one or two, three weeks, in the middle (of the) week, to have one more week or two more weeks’ holidays after the World Cup.”
Asked to clarify if a request had not been allowed, Guardiola said: “Absolutely not. The Premier League say yes to us? No. Absolutely not. It’s not going to happen.”
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Guardiola, meanwhile, has hit back at FIFA and told them he - and not them - will decide which players he picks for the Club World Cup.
FIFA have insisted clubs take their strongest squads, but Guardiola said: "Which are the strongest players? I don't understand how the selection of a player makes him 'stronger' than the other ones. I know.
"I'm not going to be told before games which players are going to play. I will decide, for sure."
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