Pep Guardiola has taken the surprise step of affording Manchester City‘s stars the day off before they play Real Madrid in a bid to clear their minds.
Defeat at the Bernabeu means City trail 3-0 in the Champions League last-16 tie and their Premier League aspirations took a dent at West Ham.
The 1-1 draw in East London on Saturday night now leaves them nine points adrift of Arsenal and there is also a mountain to climb if City are to progress in Europe.
Guardiola made the decision to give the players a day off in the aftermath of West Ham and has said anybody who doesn’t believe they can overturn the deficit with Real on Tuesday should ‘stay at home’.
‘The way you play is as much about the mentality being strong and if you don’t play good,’ Guardiola said.
‘If you are weaker then you don’t play good. We were in Madrid, travel here, day after here no training, went to London, arrived back here on Sunday at 2.30am.
‘Today you cannot do anything because the players who played are still at home and tomorrow we train.Â
Real Madrid hammered Manchester City 3-0 in Spain last week, leaving Pep Guardiola’s men with a mountain to climb in Manchester this week
‘We will not have to train something but do repetition. The training won’t improve us a lot. I prefer them to be at home.’
It is not the first time Guardiola has made the move this season, with no training the day before facing Borussia Dortmund prompting surprise.
City went on to hammer the Germans 4-1, Phil Foden scoring a brace either side of half-time.
There was also a day’s break ahead of the dramatic 5-4 victory at Fulham in December, coming three days after a draining last-gasp win over Leeds United.
The team has occasionally trained on the morning of matches in the past to run through final drills – and City will meet at 2pm before Real’s visit.
‘I’m not much concerned about the chances we are going to create, we are always able to do it at home,’ Guardiola added.
‘It’s more about how we are going to defend. The task is massive – to score more than three goals against Madrid is not easy but we are here, it is a football game, everything can happen and we have to create as much momentum as possible with our people and do a good game and defend well.’
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Pep Guardiola reveals reasons behind surprising decision to give Man City stars the day off ahead of Champions League second leg against Real Madrid