Mancini slams Premier League over Man City’s ‘chock-a-block’ schedule

London: Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has blasted Premier League organizers for forcing his team to play Sunderland on Saturday in an early kick-off after the English champions faced Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in a Champions League match.

City, who drew 1-1 with Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday, will be the first of England’s four Champions League sides to kick off this weekend. City’s bitter rivals Manchester United, who also played on Tuesday, will face Newcastle on Sunday. Mancini said his team is being put at a disadvantage and fears his players could suffer burnout. “We need to recover very well because we play early on Saturday and I don’t understand why. It’s incredible that we play Wednesday night and then Saturday at 12.45,” the Daily Star quoted Mancini, as saying. “We have two days and 12 hours to recover very well. We didn’t play a good game (against Dortmund) but we lost a lot of energy and we need time to recover,” he added. “Everywhere else the teams that play in the Champions League play three or four days before the game and have three days minimum afterwards to recover. Here it is different and that is strange,” he said. ANI