Man City to avoid UEFA punishment over Champions League training decision

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will face the media on Tuesday lunchtime but his players will not train in the afternoon

Manchester City have reached an 'alternative arrangement' with UEFA to allow them not to train on the day before their Champions League match with Dortmund.

Pep Guardiola made the call on Monday after seeing his squad for a session after their Premier League game against Bournemouth, deciding that they would be better served having Tuesday off before they face Dortmund on Wednesday.

The decision impacts UEFA's expectations for Champions League matches. Under the section called 'Media Matters', the regulations detail how each club 'must make their training session on the day before the match open to the media for at least 15 minutes' as part of their service for broadcasting rights-holders, who pay UEFA for such access.

"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," reads Article 79.

"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)."

As part of the conditions for not holding training on Tuesday, the Manchester Evening News understands that City have sent 15 minutes of footage from Monday's session to UEFA that can be used by broadcasters. That has been accepted as an 'alternative arrangement' to allow City players the day off, meaning City are to escape any UEFA sanctions, while Guardiola and a player will still be fulfilling their media duties of a press conference on Tuesday.

City's manager will surely be asked to elaborate on his reasons for not training in the press conference, as well as any updates from Sunday's game.

The squad worked at the City Football Academy on Monday for a training and recovery session after the Bournemouth match. As is standard, those who hadn't started the match had a heavier workout, and the winning team on Monday consisted of Savinho, Tijjani Reijnders, Divine Mukasa, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rico Lewis and John Stones.

City will be targeting two wins from their two home European matches this month either side of the November international break to push for a top-eight place that will bring them direct qualification for the last-16. They face Dortmund on Wednesday and then Leverkusen later in the month.

"We want this season to qualify in the top eight. We know how important it is to not have those two extra games," said captain Bernardo Silva after the win in Villarreal last month.

"But yeah, we're happy with our momentum right now, with the way the team is playing."

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