Solskjaer & Guardiola slam ‘farce’ surrounding availability of Brazilian players

Rival Premier League mangers are rarely in agreement, and certainly not when it comes to Manchester United and Manchester City.

However, both Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer are on the same page when it comes to the situation of thier Brazilian players, with both managers unaware on Friday afternoon whether Ederson, Gabriel Jesus and Fred can play at the weekend.

This is due to a request from the Brazilian football authorities, who have asked Fifa to enforced a ban on eight players who they deem as ‘ineligible’ to play this weekend after not being released for international duty recently, due to the need to quarantine upon arrival back in the UK.

“I think it’s a lose-lose-lose situation for everyone: national teams, players, clubs. It’s been a farce, really,” Solskjaer told reporters in Friday’s press conference.

“The players want to play but we all know what kind of situation we find ourselves in the last year-and-a-half with the pandemic, the travel and everyone trying to limit the spread of the virus. We’ve worked really hard before this to try to find a way. Private jets, you know, there are ways of getting them in and out but all the decisions have gone against the players, that’s for sure.

“They want to play for their national teams, they want to play for their clubs, but they’re not allowed. For me, I’m disappointed with the whole thing. Common sense might not be so common anymore. We need to prepare for the game without Fred but still, fingers crossed, that some sense can come into people’s minds and that we can use him.”

As for Guardiola, he shares the frustrations of his rival across the city. “Right now at 1.35pm, it isn’t clear,” he said on Friday. “I don’t know. Hopefully they can play. We will wait until tomorrow, if there is some good news. The club didn’t inform me of anything so we are going to wait until tomorrow to see if they can play or not.

“The problem is I don't understand the situation,” he continued. I don’t know what we can do. It is an honour for Manchester City for our players to go and play for their country. That’s no problem at all. The problem that is difficult to understand for me is that the Argentina players from the Premier League go to Brazil and aren’t allowed to play. The Brazilian players who should have travelled to play this game would have been completely the same.

“So, they travel there to not be allowed to play because they have to fit the quarantine there. And if they do it so they cannot play in Brazil and after they come back they cannot play for 10 days. And if they don’t fly to play that game they are suspended for five days because they were here. That makes no sense.

“We wait for FIFA. Hopefully they will make a statement and allow all the Brazilian players to play with their teams,” he added.

Guardiola was also asked if the Premier League clubs could unite over their indignation surrounding this issue. “We are going to wait until tomorrow,” he said. “Right now we are thinking they will play, because I don’t have any other instructions. All the clubs going together? I am not a big fan of that. Everyone thinks for themselves.”