Bernardo Silva Hits Out at Fixture ‘Disrespect’ After Arsenal Draw

Manchester City captain Bernardo Silva has criticised football’s fixture planners for showing a lack of respect and fairness, after his side were given little recovery time before facing Arsenal.

City were held to a 1-1 draw at the Emirates on Sunday, just 66 hours after their Champions League home win over Napoli. By contrast, Arsenal had played their European opener at Athletic Bilbao on Tuesday, enjoying almost five full days of rest.

Silva argued that the scheduling left City at a major disadvantage. “The reality is we cannot come in to one of the most important games in the season with such a disadvantage, in terms of rest. It is not fair to play one of these games like this. It is just not right,” he said.

Erling Haaland gave City an early lead, but Arsenal grew stronger as the match wore on and equalised in stoppage time through Gabriel Martinelli. Guardiola opted not to rotate his side, but Silva insisted fatigue was decisive.

“They had five days and we had two and a half days. In one of the most important games, this cannot happen. It is just not enough. I wasn’t feeling in a perfect condition to play like this, and people who have not played at the highest level don’t know how it feels,” he said.

Highlighting the physical demands, Silva pointed to Abdukodir Khusanov’s injury as an example of the risks. “It is just frustrating that we couldn’t be at our best level simply because of the decision of someone that thinks it is fair to come away after two and a half less days than Arsenal.”

While acknowledging the commercial pressures from UEFA, the Premier League and broadcasters, Silva urged decision-makers to apply “common sense.”

“What we ask for is common sense because this is one of the biggest games of the season. The players need to be in the same physical conditions otherwise I don’t think it is fair.”

The Portuguese midfielder was also pessimistic about change. “They don’t listen to us. We would like to change something. But it never changes,” he said.

“It does not really matter, but for the fans, for the respect of the clubs, and for the fairness of the competition, I don’t think what happened was good.”

Opinion Nigeria News