Pep Guardiola found himself agreeing with Jürgen Klopp’s scathing review of the newly expanded Club World Cup. But the Manchester City manager conceded that he has no role in the organisation of competitions, shrugging, “It is what it is.”
Klopp, a long-term managerial adversary for Guardiola during his time at Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, took a step back from the dugout to oversee Red Bull’s stable of clubs this year. From this withdrawn view, the German tactician has pulled no punches with his assessment of a competition he has written off as “pointless” and “the worst idea ever implemented in football.”
“Whoever wins it will be the worst winner of all time because they’ll have played all summer and then gone straight back into the league,” Klopp fumed in an interview with Die Welt. “There are people who have never been involved in the day-to-day business of football and are now coming up with ideas.”
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This argument stems from the extra strain put on players who already have to hurdle a packed calendar. The Club World Cup had been a mini-tournament held annually between the winner of each continental club competition, forcing European teams to play no more than two games.
Yet, at the behest of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, whose name is inscribed on the trophy (twice), the competition has been expanded to 32 teams, each playing at least three times in the wildly unpredictable weather conditions of American summer.
“It’s too many games,” Klopp bemoaned. “I fear next season we will see injuries like never before,” he said. “If not then, they’ll come during or after the Club World Cup. There’s no real recovery for those involved, neither physically nor mentally.”
Guardiola couldn’t help but agree with his former rival. “I know where his idea comes from,” the Catalan boss admitted ahead of Manchester City’s last-16 clash with Al Hilal.
“We fought a lot [together] when we went to the UEFA meetings [or] especially when we discussed the Premier League calendar, about how to add more quality to it. [We discussed] giving the managers and players more rest. So his comments [on the Club World Cup] didn’t surprise me a lot. I understand him. I respect him. I’ve had an incredible relationship with Jürgen for many years as rivals.
“Now he’s stepped back from that position [as a manager] and I understand his argument, because I would defend his argument as well. At the same time, as managers we are in a job. We follow the FIFA, UEFA, Premier League rules.”
“Of course, it’s not an ideal situation for the manager,” Guardiola concluded. “Would I love to have two months to prepare for next season? Yes. Would I love to be refreshed for next season? Yes. But it is what it is.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pep Guardiola Sides With Jurgen Klopp Over Controversial Club World Cup Comments.
