Pep Guardiola takes aim at Premier League for quick turnaround after Super Cup

Man City face will play two games in three days

Man City will face Sevilla in Athens on Wednesday, August 16 at 8pm before facing Newcastle at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday, August 18 at 8pm. The current holders will open their title defence against Burnley on Friday, August 11.

Guardiola's side face a hectic opening start to the season and have already played one competitive fixture having played in the Community Shield - losing out to Arsenal on penalties.

"We finish an incredibly stressful season, the players went to their national teams and had maybe not even three weeks [off]," he said.

"We came back and trained a little in Manchester then trained to Asia and could not train there because it is impossible to train there. We played a decent game against Bayern and the other two matches, and after in a few days I saw incredible I saw that the guys are still here so we cannot complain.

"We have to recover well and prepare well [for] the game against Burnley and then travel to Athens to play at 10pm, finish at 2, then come back on Friday and after - thank you! - play on Saturday against Newcastle at home. This is my plan - not winning or losing."

Joško Gvardiol could make his debut for the reigning champions at Turf Moor on Friday after signing from RB Leipzig on Saturday in a deal reported to be worth €90m.

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