Manchester City have signed an “alternative agreement” with UEFA after Manchester City missed training the day before their Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund. This means City will not be punished by the governing body following manager Josep Guardiola’s decision not to hold pre-match training on Monday following the Premier League game against Bournemouth.
The Catalan coach concluded that his team would benefit more from having Tuesday off in preparation for Wednesday’s game against Dortmund. The move goes against UEFA’s standard requirements for Champions League matches. The ‘media matters’ section of the regulation states that clubs ‘must make training sessions on the day before a match available to the media for at least 15 minutes’ as part of their obligations to broadcast rights holders who compensate UEFA for such access.
Article 79 states: “The clubs must make the training session on the day before the match open to the media for at least 15 minutes, according to a schedule agreed in advance with UEFA. The two training sessions must be jointly arranged by the clubs and UEFA so that the media can attend both.”
“As a general rule, unless a prior agreement has been reached with UEFA, the visiting club will hold an official training session in the stadium where the match will be played on the day before the match.…If the club does not hold a full training session on the day before the match, alternative arrangements must be made in agreement with UEFA to provide the media with at least 15 minutes of access to the team’s preparations (such as walking around the stadium).”
After canceling Tuesday’s training, City sent 15 minutes of footage from Monday’s session to UEFA for use by broadcasters. This ‘alternative agreement’ was accepted, giving City’s players a day off and ensuring the club avoided UEFA sanctions.
Guardiola and Erling Haaland also held a press conference on Tuesday, fulfilling their media duties. Guardiola then said: “We will train tomorrow morning. I have done it several times, maybe not many times, but a few times. Sometimes I prefer it that way, without seeing each other.”
“Bournemouth were very demanding so I would like them to stay at home and practice tomorrow morning. Nobody is going to change the schedule because there are so many games and that is the way it is.”
On Monday, the team trained at the City Football Academy with an emphasis on recovery after the game against Bournemouth. As usual, players who did not start the game trained more intensely.
City will aim to secure a top-eight spot this month with two wins in their two home matches in Europe over the November international break, which would guarantee them a direct place in the last 16. They play Dortmund on Wednesday before facing Bayer Leverkusen later in the month.
“We are aiming to be in the top eight this season and we know how important it is not to play two extra-time games,” captain Bernardo Silva said after last month’s win at Villarreal. But yeah, we’re happy with the momentum we have right now and the way our team is playing.”
