Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said even fit players are in pain as they push through the fixture schedule and his squad now faces an injury “emergency”.
Guardiola said he has doubts over several players for Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth after suffering problems in Wednesday’s 2-1 EFL Cup defeat at Tottenham.
Savinho went off on a stretcher with an ankle injury, while Manuel Akanji injured his calf in the warm-up.
After the game, Guardiola said he had just 13 fit players with long-term absentees in Rodri and Oscar Bobb, and injury concerns over Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku, Jack Grealish, Akanji and Josko Gvardiol.
On Friday he did not say who could return for the trip to Bournemouth saying he had “many doubts” but confirmed Brazil winger Savinho had not suffered a fracture.
After Bournemouth, City have a Champions League trip to Portugal to face Ruben Amorim’s Sporting and then travel to face Brighton.
“Today, almost all of the players play with pain,” said Guardiola. “There are moments when you have to be careful but sometimes you have to play.
“You have to deal with it in modern football or you can-t sustain games every three days at a top club.”
Guardiola used the example of 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal to demonstrate it is not just footballers who are pushing their bodies to the limit.
“Rafa played all of his career with pain,” he said. “He played and won I don’t know how many Grand Slams.”
Guardiola also said he was turning to academy players, adding: “We are using them because we are in an emergency in certain positions.”
Playmaker De Bruyne is one of the City stars currently sidelined.
De Bruyne has not featured since injuring his thigh against Inter Milan more than six weeks ago and earlier this week, Guardiola painted a bleak picture around De Bruyne’s likely comeback date.
However, now the news is more optimistic.
“He’s getting better,” Guardiola said. “The last two or three days the doctor said he made a big step forward in terms of pain.”
Pep’s FA Cup final hangover ‘joke’
In the aftermath of the loss at Tottenham, Guardiola reflected on City’s first defeat since the FA Cup final, saying for the Wembley encounter with Manchester United his side were “a little bit hungover” following their Premier League title celebrations the previous weekend.
Asked about the comments on Friday, Guardiola pulled back.
“It was a joke,” he said. “After winning the Premier League, we had to celebrate it, otherwise what is the sense of [playing] 11 months to win it.
“My guys are really good on the pitch, but off the pitch they are really good too. But of course we were ready. [United] beat us fairly.”