Manchester City's Treble-winning stars have arrived back on home soil with Pep Guardiola pointing the finger at UEFA and FIFA for pushing his players to breaking point.
Guardiola's City side finished a gruelling season with victory over Inter Milan in Istanbul to clinch an historic Treble. The 1-0 win in the Ataturk Stadium was City's 61st game of the season, with most of Guardiola's stars also involved in the World Cup in Qatar in the middle of the campaign.
Victory for City came at a price – with midfielder Kevin De Bruyne forced off in the first-half with a hamstring injury. De Bruyne had been playing through the pain barrier with the injury for the last eight weeks and now faces up to three months on the sidelines.
Despite their exhausting season, many of Guardiola's City squad will have to report for international duty this week - extending their season even further. England trio John Stones, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden will join up with the England squad on Wednesday, ahead of back-to-back European qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.
Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate has already said he will leave the trio out of the first game in Valletta, because of the physical and mental demands they have faced.
But the internationals come less than three weeks before most clubs return for pre-season training and then go on summer tours with their clubs. Guardiola said football's governing bodies need to put the welfare of players before anything else and readjust the calendar to ensure they are not burned out.
"Our players have international games now,” said the Catalan, shaking his head. "UEFA and FIFA, think about it. The Premier League finished two or three weeks ago, but now people have to come back. It's too much.”
The majority of City's players will head off to represent their countries in the coming weeks. Many have endured lengthy calendars, especially this season, which had the first ever winter World Cup put into the middle of the campaign, which had a knock-on affect for domestic football around the globe.
Guardiola and his side very much embraced the moment on Saturday evening however as they partied into the night before being greeted by fans upon their return home on Sunday. City are just the second English side to complete the historic treble, emulating Manchester United's 1999 team.
The Catalan said on the achievement: "It is an honour for me to be alongside Sir Alex Ferguson. I got a message from him this morning and it is an honour."
"People say I have to win trebles every season. I am a good manager, but no. I like this competition for the fact we won it, it is part of history and players will be remembered for the rest of their lives.
"But now give credit for the five Premier Leagues won in six years. It is important now that people don't forget what we have done. Maybe they can create a museum so the fans can look at the trophies."
