Pep Guardiola has explained why he cancelled Manchester City's training ahead of the huge Champions League second leg clash with Real Madrid on Wednesday.
City find themselves 3-0 down from the first leg, where Federico Valverde ran riot with a stunning first-half hat-trick.
Pep Guardiola's require one of the greatest ever Champions League comebacks if they are to progress to the quarter finals, with Roma and Liverpool two of the most high-profile examples from a three-goal deficit.
With Guardiola in the stands due to a suspension, City drew 1-1 with West Ham at the weekend in a result that further dented their Premier League title hopes after Arsenal's late win over Everton.
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However, in a rather unusual move, Guardiola has given his players the day off on Monday - the day before a 17th meeting with Real at the Etihad Stadium.
City had a recovery session on the Sunday and will instead participate in training on Tuesday before they go into battle.
Guardiola has replicated an approach he adopted earlier in the season when City didn't train the day before their Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.
"We were in Madrid, late in the hotel, come back in the morning, no training, yesterday [after West Ham] we came back at two or three in the morning," Guardiola explained in his press conference.
"Today in the modern day, training doesn't improve a lot. I have done it two or three times this season. Before Dortmund, Fulham. Sometimes we train or stay at home. We know each other well, we practice many things."
With the session cancelled, it creates an issue regarding UEFA's rules. Article 79 of UEFA's documents states that teams must make their training session the day before a game open to the media for a minimum of 15 minutes.
That is not happening but according to the Manchester Evening News, the workaround is that City are poised to send over 15 minutes of footage from the Sunday session to UEFA so that all the broadcasters can use it.
Bernardo Silva also spoke to the media in the presser and admitted the players have no problem with Guardiola's thinking that rest will do them good going into a game against the 15-time European champions.
"We've done it in the past plenty of times when we lost games, when we won games, when the manager felt that it was the best for the team," Silva said.
"And with all the trips that we had this week, I think he just thought that it would be best for us to sleep better, to stay at home one more day, to free a bit our minds and come back tomorrow, stronger and ready for the game."
After the Real showdown, City have the small matter of the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal at Wembley on March 22.
Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manchester City
Josh Lawless