Manchester City lost the FA Cup final but will take consolation from finally knowing what their summer schedule will look like.
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Pep Guardiola couldn't drive Manchester City to an FA Cup final win this weekend.
Pep Guardiola couldn't drive Manchester City to an FA Cup final win this weekend.
On the eve of the FA Cup final, Pep Guardiola refused to answer one particular question - with a promise that he would let his feelings be known 24 hours later.
The question was about a potential Community Shield clash against Liverpool in August if Manchester City won the FA Cup on Saturday. But they didn't, and will sit out the season's curtain-raiser for the first time in five years, and only the second time in eight.
Perhaps, of all seasons, this is a good year to miss out on that Wembley clash. When asked about it, Guardiola said with a smile: "After the game, if we win, ask me that question. I will remember you." It was accompanied by the kind of grin that said 'you know exactly what the answer will be'.
We will never know for sure now. Crystal Palace will face Liverpool instead and perhaps the bigger prize for City will be an extra week off before starting the 2025/26 season.
There will now be at least a month between the Club World Cup final, of which City hope to be part of, and the start of the new Premier League season. That still isn't enough for both the FIFPro-recommended four-week break between seasons and a sufficient pre-season - although it is an extra week to rest tired bodies and prepare for the new season.
City will be coming in cold anyway, so not having to play the Community Shield won't be seen as a disappointment for Guardiola. Speaking at the start of the month, he said: "It is what it is. Chelsea will have the same problem, I think. Maybe here we start a little bit earlier. It depends if we play the Community Shield or not, if we’re able to beat Crystal Palace in the final. That will change the schedule. We’ll see after the final exactly the days we had.
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"We knew it from the beginning that the next season, the pre-season, would be a short time. Hopefully we have fit players. If we have fit players we can rotate and we can handle it. The problem is when we’ve had injuries, if we had that we would have big, big problems."
You can imagine, then, if City had beaten Palace, Guardiola would have plenty to say on the Community Shield taking place just three weeks after a prospective Club World Cup final. There is precedent for clubs declining the game, however, there was no indication that City would take that drastic step.
Guardiola was previously unhappy that the Premier League wouldn't allow City extra time off by delaying their first league fixture by a week. Continuing his previous answer about the summer, he said: "I’d like to give weeks off but we cannot give it to them. During the season we’ve tried to give as many days off as possible. Try to create a good environment with the team so they’re happy to come here and play games.
"To be honest, we need rest that we cannot give them. The players need to disconnect mentally and physically but the schedule is the schedule."
The FA Cup final defeat is a bitter disappointment, yet City and Guardiola can take consolation in knowing how much rest they will get in the summer - even if it still won't be enough.
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