Guardiola wants clubs cut

City manager says quality not quantity can avert breakaway European Super League plan runs into growing opposition

English football should reduce the number of professional teams to ward off the threat of elite clubs joining a proposed breakaway European Super League, says Pep Guardiola. The Manchester City manager has also revealed that midfielder Kevin De Bruyne could be out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.

Pep Guardiola has called for a reduction of teams in the Premier League and across England’s other three professional divisions in an attempt to “protect” domestic leagues amid the threat of a proposed European Super League.

The potential creation of a European Super League to replace the Champions League, that could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the continent’s biggest clubs has sparked widespread controversy and been met with fierce opposition from Fifa and Uefa.

Guardiola’s Manchester City, along with the Premier League’s other “big six” members, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham, could form part of such a Super League if the plan ever got off the ground.

Although those clubs would still compete in the Premier League, there are concerns about how a European Super League would impact on domestic competition, given the proposals involve playing between 18 and 23 matches each a season, a huge increase on the number of games played annually in the Champions League.

“I have the feeling that we cannot lose what the local leagues mean – what it means to play the FA Cup tomorrow, for example, what it means to play in the leagues,” the City manager said when asked about the European Super League proposals ahead of his side’s FA Cup fourthround tie at Cheltenham Town tonight. “What we should do is to make every single league in Europe stronger than it is now. That means less teams. Better Championship, better League One, better League Two, better Premier League – with less teams in every competition. Go to quality over quantity.

“You have to make a super Premier League and for that you have to reduce the teams. But we cannot kill the lower divisions or the Premier League itself. It’s not about other benefits, it’s about how important sentimentally it is having your own league for every country.”

Guardiola said he was yet to read the 18-page European Super League proposals, but was certain it would involve “more games” – a move he strongly opposes. He has been a vocal critic of the congested fixture schedule. “I want to protect the local leagues. I like to play against Leicester, Brighton, Burnley, Arsenal, West Bromwich, Liverpool – I love it,” he said. “I like to play against Barcelona, Madrid, Juventus, Monchengladbach, too.

“But let the players breathe a bit more – to recover better and make a better performance to make more spectators come back when they return to the stadiums. More goals and action to make our sport better. This will only happen if players are fitter and feel more comfortable with the amount of games.

“We cannot extend the year from 365 days, so reduce the teams. They want the business of the Carabao Cup, and the FA Cup is so important – I want to play [in them] too. I love to play the Carabao Cup.”

Uefa’s opposition to a proposed Super League was backed yesterday by the European Commission. Margaritis Schinas, its vice-president, said: “The European way of life is not compatible with European football being reserved for the rich and the powerful.”