@FootynewsPep Guardiola is not holding back on the modern calendar. His first season at Barcelona came with 25 days off before the opening official match. Now that window is down to 5. He points to the rise in anterior cruciate ligament injuries as proof that players get no mental or physical rest. Squads are flown to Asia and the United States, then thrown into derbies and other high-stakes games. THE SHOW MUST GO ON, he says, so players keep breaking down. Guardiola calls it a lost battle unless footballers themselves refuse to play. Meetings with UEFA or FIFA won't fix it, he argues, because nothing gets done there. On top of that, matches are getting longer, now around 112 minutes. If the current players won't be there, someone else will take their place.

@FootynewsPep Guardiola is not holding back on the modern calendar. His first season at Barcelona came with 25 days off before the opening official match. Now that window is down to 5. He points to the rise in anterior cruciate ligament injuries as proof that players get no mental or physical rest. Squads are flown to Asia and the United States, then thrown into derbies and other high-stakes games. THE SHOW MUST GO ON, he says, so players keep breaking down. Guardiola calls it a lost battle unless footballers themselves refuse to play. Meetings with UEFA or FIFA won't fix it, he argues, because nothing gets done there. On top of that, matches are getting longer, now around 112 minutes. If the current players won't be there, someone else will take their place.