Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is concerned that his players will be infected with the coronavirus if they travel to their countries in March to play the World Cup qualifiers.
Guardiola fears that this, in turn, will affect City’s chances of winning titles this season.
“The moment you take a plane to go somewhere, anything can happen,” Guardiola warned Tuesday.
City are one of three teams in the Premier League – along with Fulham and Aston Villa – that had to postpone games in December and January due to outbreaks of COVID-19 at their training centers.
English football was in danger of being canceled as the infection rate increased in teams during the end of the year festivities. However, it has returned to a controllable level in recent weeks as the country has been in lockdown since January.
Guardiola fears this will change once the players travel for their international matches, when 135 nations play World Cup qualifying matches in March and 48 more meet for tickets to the African Cup of Nations. These matches involve more than 3,000 players – many from European clubs – who will travel the world to join their national teams.
“I think the Premier League should be concerned about this, all leagues should be concerned,” Guardiola said. “I understand that the national teams must play for the qualification (to the World Cup), or the friendlies in preparation for the European Championship in the summer, it is normal. But the reason why now there are no cases, after they increased in the Premier, is that people are not moving.
This month FIFA extended the relaxation of the rules that exempt clubs from their obligation to release all their players to join their national teams. Footballers who need at least five days of quarantine at any point during the trip will have the possibility of not attending.
The ideal, according to Guardiola, is that there would be no international duels until the summer.
“I say, from my humble opinion, we should be cautious until the summer, when the season ends and we can control it better,” he considered.
City lead the Premier League by seven points ahead of Wednesday’s game against Everton. Next week they resume their participation in the Champions League with the first leg of the round of 16 against Borussia Mönchengladbach.
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