City's Jesus warns of injury danger in compressed season

MANCHESTER, England, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Manchester City’s Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus has warned that there could be an increase in injuries this season due to the extra demands placed on players.

Jesus, who has recently come back from injury, and scored in City’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool, will now fly to South America to take part in World Cup qualifiers with Brazil.

“My physical condition is not the same and now I go to my international team and try to help my country and when I come back I will try to come back in good physical condition,” he said.

“That is the challenge for me, keep fit and don’t get injured because this season is going to be dangerous for players because too many games.”

The later start to the 2020-2021 season, caused by the delay in the completion of last season due the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a more compressed schedule, especially for teams in the Champions League.

City manager Pep Guardiola has been one of those who has been critical of the Premier League’s decision not to stick with last year’s temporary rule allowing five instead of three substitutions.

The Spaniard said he had spoken to Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp about the issue at the end of the game after the champions’ right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold suffered an injury.

“Trent Alexander-Arnold, international English player, now injured. Here we believe we are more special, we don’t protect the players, so that is why it is a disaster,” he said.

“We talked about five substitutions. There are many guys with many, many cases. Around the world five subs are key, but here it’s totally the opposite. We’ve talked about this many times.”