The ridiculous and unsustainable Man City numbers that prove Pep Guardiola's point

It was hard to argue Pep Guardiola was wrong. The amount of professional football played at the very elite level since the start of the 2022/23 season has been astonishing, bordering on unprecedented.

The reasons are extensive. The winter World Cup in Qatar, the creation of UEFA's Nations League and City's participation in the Club World Cup have all contributed to a sense of overkill. It is causing fatigue among players and the scariest bit is there's worse to come.

An expanded Champions League, a 48-team World Cup, you know the drill. Scrapping FA Cup replays? That won't even scratch the surface of trying to reduce City players' workload.

The nucleus of Guardiola's argument, speaking in the aftermath of City's fortunate 1-0 win over Chelsea in the FA Cup on Saturday, was more granular and less systematic. His gripe was with the semi-final schedulers who ignored the fact City played a Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday.

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The fact City's tie with Los Blancos went to extra-time and penalties exacerbated the situation. And City did look leggy at Wembley, struggling to maintain their usual tempo and control as Chelsea set the pace.

"It's unacceptable to let us play today," said Guardiola, relieved that his players somehow scraped through. "It's impossible, for the health of the players. It's not normal. It's unacceptable. 120 minutes, the emotions of Madrid, the way we lose, honestly.

"I know in this country [the FA Cup] is special but it's for the health of the players. I don't understand how we survived.