On Thursday, the situation in the Premier League became more serious, and Manchester City became the most affected Premier League club, with 21 people, including Guardiola, confirmed to be infected with the new crown virus.
On Friday, City will face Swindon in the third round of the FA Cup. However, Blue Moon issued an announcement on Thursday confirming that Guardiola and assistant coach Lillio, who both tested positive in the new crown test, will not be able to direct the game live, and assistant coach Borrell will conduct it live.
Shockingly, 21 people in City's first team have contracted the new crown, including 14 staff members and 7 first-team players. Despite the fact that many players and staff were infected, Manchester City did not ask to postpone the match against Swindon.
Also on Thursday, Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Burnley boss Sean Deitch were also tested for covid-19, while Liverpool's match against Arsenal, which was scheduled for Friday, has been postponed and Liverpool has been forced to close the training ground. The Sun said worriedly, "More test results will be announced in the next 24 hours, and the situation may become more serious." ”
In a pre-match press conference, Borrell said, "We do have some anxiety because we have to be tested every day, and almost everyone is predicting every day that there will be 3, 4 or quite a few today." ”
"In order to make the list, we have to bring at least 5 or 6 substitutes and even promote some players from the second team. However, this outbreak also involved some second-team players, so the situation was not so easy. There are also a lot of players infected in the second team, and there are staff, but we don't have any excuses. ”
What worries Guardiola is that Manchester City will face Chelsea on Saturday, which will be one of the key battles in the Premier League title race. If Guardiola can't command on the spot and many players can't play, then City's strength will decline significantly.