'We don’t have players', laments Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola ahead of Liverpool clash

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is a worried man. Ahead of City's Carabao Cup tie against rivals Liverpool, Guardiola is worried that he does not have enough players.

"At the moment, we have four or five players, and we will have to wait and see how the others come back," Guardiola was quoted as saying by the club's official media channel.

Withoutnaming FIFA or the organising body of the league cup, Pep took a dig at both of them for making such a congested schedule.

“But we just don’t have players because the big brains of football decided this schedule and we are going to play this game (against Liverpool)."

“People are coming back soon. Nathan, Aymer, and Rodri, and later the players from the England and Portugal teams.”

Usually, the World Cup is held before the beginning of the footballing season in Europe. However, with this year's host being Qatar, the dates were pushed midway into the season to avoid the scorching middle-east heat.

While the World Cup was crammed into the middle of an already hectic schedule, the players and coaches will have little to no time to get their preparations underway before heading into the busy festive season schedule of matches.

Notably, most Premier League clubs have been holding regular friendlies ahead of the club football resumptionbut Manchester City played their first mid-season friendly against Spanish side Girona on Saturday.

Though Guardiola lamented about not having all players at his disposal, he still had the services of Kevin de Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan.

City managed to comfortably beat the opposition 2-0 with goals from Haaland and de Bruyne allowing Pep to further rotate the squad.

However, Guardiola's worry ahead of a crucial knockout match is not without any substance.Lately, Liverpool have had the wood over Guardiola's City, the reigning Premier League champions.

City have not managed to beat Liverpool in their last five meetings.The only win came in February last year when City managed to beat an injury-hit Liverpool 4-1.

The most recent encounter between the two sides was in the Premier League where a lone goal from Mo Salah was the difference between the two sides.

(With inputs from agencies)

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