Match-winner Bernardo Silva has accused the Football Association of not caring about the wellbeing of players over the scheduling of Manchester City바카라s FA Cup semi-final. (More Football News)
Silva scored the late clincher as a weary-looking City ground out a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday to book a second-successive final appearance.
Yet 바카라 after the game 바카라 manager Pep Guardiola hit out at the decision to make City play less than three days after they were taken to a penalty shootout in their draining Champions League quarter-final loss to Real Madrid.
He contrasted this to the preparation time afforded to Sunday바카라s semi-finalists Manchester United and Coventry, neither of whom had midweek fixtures, and branded the situation 바카라unacceptable바카라.
Those sentiments were echoed by Silva, who felt City had been treated unfairly.
The Portuguese said: 바카라We didn바카라t play on a level field because the FA didn바카라t give us a chance to recover, which in my opinion is not reasonable at all.
바카라I바카라m saying this because we won. If we didn바카라t win, I wouldn바카라t say it because I don바카라t like to find excuses, but I don바카라t think it바카라s acceptable we had to play (on Saturday).
바카라It바카라s too much. We played 120 minutes less than three days (prior) and we had to play against a team that didn바카라t travel because they바카라re from London.
바카라And they had five days waiting for us and thinking about our game. There바카라s no excuse for the game to not be Sunday. It바카라s not acceptable. For all of us as a team, that바카라s how we feel.
바카라It looks like they don바카라t care because we바카라ve said it many times. It바카라s not about wanting to be favourites, it바카라s about health.바카라
Silva feels there could be greater consideration given to the impact of European competitions on players when domestic fixtures are scheduled.
He said: 바카라I wasn바카라t fine at all. I바카라ll be honest, I was feeling my left hamstring and my right calf. This is not fair for Man City, for us.
바카라I say Man City 바카라 maybe other clubs went through it. This is just our personal experience.
바카라They have to pay more attention to these details. We represent England in these European competitions and it바카라s important for England, for this country, for other clubs to qualify for the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League. So they need to pay more attention.바카라
The FA has not commented directly but its position on such matters is that the needs of the clubs, local authorities, police and broadcasters all need to be considered and balanced. It schedules all ties collaboratively.
In this case, the matter is also complicated by Chelsea having a rearranged Premier League game against Arsenal next Tuesday.
