Man City defender Manuel Akanji has sounded a warning over fixture congestion as they face their most arduous season yet with an expanded Champions League, and Club World Cup next summer.
Swiss international Akanji has played 127 times for club and country since he moved to The Etihad two years ago this month.
City, who maintained their 100 per cent record this season by beating Brentford 2-1 on Saturday with an Erling Haaland brace, travel to Italian champions Inter Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday – a repeat of the 2023 final – and meet Arsenal in a big Premier League showdown on Sunday.
They have six games in 18 days before the next international break and the pace won’t stop until July.
‘It’s getting more complicated. The Champions League has got bigger. It was six group games, it’s now eight and can be 10 (with play-offs). I think the old format was better,’ said Akanji.
‘It’s so tough. You don’t just think about this season but also next season. Let’s say we go to the final of the Club World Cup and if we play the Community Shield, it might be three weeks after.
‘When do we do holidays? There are no breaks in winter. If we are lucky we get two weeks and then we need to be back into next season. There’s no end to it.
‘It’s good they make the games more exciting but you need to take some games away. You can’t just keep adding game after game and assume everything will be like it was.’
Akanji, 29, was laughing as he joked he’d have to retire at 30. But there was a serious point to his argument too. ‘You have to think about the players. At some point you’ll be too tired to play any more games and then come injuries, definitely. We train as hard as possible and we are fit – but there has to be a limit.’
One nice touch at the weekend from City’s players was sending flowers to Haaland’s box at The Etihad following the death of his “Uncle” Ivar Eggja.
‘That’s what a team is for. We stick together and try to help each other out,’ added Akanji.
Yoane Wissa had stunned The Etihad by scoring for Brentford after 22 seconds but Erling Haaland scored twice before the interval to take his tally to nine goals in four games this season.