Man City avoid Uefa punishment with little-known loophole after Pep Guardiola cancels training in surprise move

MANCHESTER CITY struck an agreement with Uefa after skipping a training session ahead of their Champions League match against Borussia Dortmund.

The Premier League giants were expected to train on Tuesday ahead of their meeting with Dortmund on Wednesday.

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Man City struck an agreement with Uefa after skipping a training session ahead of their Champions League match against Borussia DortmundCredit: Getty
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Pep Guardiola made the decision to cancel the team’s training session on TuesdayCredit: Getty

However, manager Pep Guardiola made a late call to miss the session following their 3-1 win over Bournemouth at the weekend.

The Spaniard argued that his team would benefit from a day off instead.

Typically, teams must train the day before a European match so that media can view the last 15 minutes.

Those rules come under the ‘Media Matters’ section outlined in UEFA regulations.

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Article 79 states: “Both clubs must make their training session on the day before the match open to the media for at least 15 minutes in accordance with the schedule agreed in advance with UEFA.

“The two training sessions must be arranged by the two clubs and UEFA together, so that the media can attend both.

“In principle, the visiting club holds its official training session in the stadium where the match will take place on the day before the match, unless otherwise agreed in advance with UEFA…

“If a club does not hold a full training session on the day before the match, alternative arrangements must be made in agreement with UEFA to provide the media with access to a minimum of 15 minutes of the team’s preparation (e.g. stadium walk-around).”

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To avoid punishment, Man City sent 15 minutes of video footage from Monday’s training session to Uefa which was then made available for broadcasters to use.

Guardiola still took part in a pre-match press conference with Erling Haaland on Tuesday.

Discussing the situation, the City boss said: “We will train tomorrow morning. I’ve done it a few times – maybe not a lot but a few times.

“Sometimes I prefer it. Don’t see each other.

“Bournemouth was so demanding that I prefer they stay at home and tomorrow morning we train.

“No-one is going to change the schedule because we have a lot of competitions so it is what it is.”

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