Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has refused to blame his sides shock midweek loss to French side Lyon in the Champions League on his players suffering from tiredness.
The Premier League Champions had been billed as favourites to win this seasons Champions League, but they were poor against Lyon at the Etihad, although Guardiola was quick to rebuff suggestions that his sides lacklustre showing was down to World Cup fatigue.
“I don’t believe in the physical condition [as an excuse] in my point of view,” Guardiola said ahead of Saturday’s trip to South Wales to face Cardiff in the Premier League.
“I believe the mental condition controls everything you do on the pitch, what you do when you have the ball, what you do when you don’t have the ball, how you defend set-pieces.
“They [the players] are young, they train every day and we take care of them.
“It is not like the Premier League, when you have another game, another game. Here, every game is like a final. There is a short group stage – one or two mistakes and you are out.
“But we still have five games [in the group stage] and we are going to prepare well when we go to Germany to make a good game.”