Man City's Bernardo Silva criticises 'ridiculous' schedule

Manchester City's Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva on Wednesday criticised the "completely ridiculous" amount of fixtures players are subjected to with a schedule of "more and more competitions".

"It's not easy. I spend very little time with my family and friends. The load of games we are under these days is completely ridiculous," he told a press conference during his time with the Portugal national team.

The Manchester City midfielder said that, as well as there being "more and more competitions and more games", the "intensity of the matches is not going down, because (football) is becoming more and more competitive", even though the squads are bigger.

Bernardo Silva said "the schedule is completely crazy" and said Guardiola's side could play "every three days for another nine months" if they stay in all competitions.

Silva is currently on international duty with Portugal, who face Croatia on Thursday and Scotland on Sunday, both at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon, in the Nations League.

The clash against the Croatians will be the first since Portugal's quarter-final exit at Euro 2024 in Germany, a tournament in which the 'Quinas' showed "a lot of quality" in some aspects, but also "a lot of room for improvement", according to the midfielder.