Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has encouraged his players to take inspiration from Rafael Nadal’s resilience throughout his tennis career, Soccernet.football reports.
Nadal enjoyed a highly decorated career, securing 22 Grand Slam titles including a record 14 at the French Open. However, the Spaniard was plagued by persistent and sometimes severe injuries along the way.
The Cityzens have dominated the Premier League since Guardiola’s arrival, winning four consecutive titles. Nonetheless, they’re now feeling pressure from a strong start by Arsenal and Merseyside giants Liverpool.
City’s own title defense is off to a solid start with seven wins and two draws from nine games, but injuries are testing Guardiola’s squad depth.
Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, Jeremy Doku, and Oscar Bobb are all sidelined with various issues, while others are grappling with minor injuries and fitness concerns.
In Guardiola’s view, players must sometimes learn to push through pain, as Nadal consistently did throughout his storied career.
“There are moments when injuries are [harmful] injuries and be careful but sometimes if you have problems you have to play,” Guardiola said as per Daily Mail.
“Rafa Nadal played all of his career with pain. He played. And won I don’t know how many Grand Slams. You have to deal with it in modern football or you can’t sustain games every three days at a top club.
“Kevin is getting better. The last two, three days the doctor said to me that he made a step forward in terms of pain.
“It depends on the players. There are players who say, ‘OK, I’m ready’ and there are players who have more tendency to get niggles with their history.
“There are the others who just go, go go – that it doesn’t matter what happens. It’s not because they are more or less [focused]. It’s that they can adapt to sustain incredible amounts of efforts every day more than the other ones.”