Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur take on each other in the Champions League final next month at the Metropolitano but Jamie Carragher is not too happy with the encounter.
This season, the Champions League final has been delayed and with the Nations League scheduled to start in June, Carragher feels it could a huge blow for Gareth Southgate and his side.
Both Spurs and Liverpool have a number of players who will represent England in the Nations League and playing in the UCL final will mean that these players will have very little time to recover for the Nations League
“It’s a weird one really,” the former England defender told The Anfield Wrap. “You normally go away and that’s what Liverpool have done going to Marbella.
“No-one’s been able to give me a reason why the Champions League is three weeks after the league campaign.
“It’s normally two weeks, where you have the FA Cup then the week after is the Champions League.
“That’s not too bad, so I do feel for the players, that extra week. I can only think it’s the FA thinking, ‘Oh we’ll do this to help England in the Nations League’.
“But it’s actually backfired, if that is the reason, in that two English teams are there. If two English teams weren’t there, there would obviously be a longer break leading up to the Nations League.
“That’s p***ed me off a little bit that, to be honest. I think it probably helps Spurs more than us, I would say.
“I think they’ve got bigger injury problems than us, certainly with Harry Kane, Harry Winks, other little knocks they had towards the end of the season. It gives you an extra week to be fit.
“I think we’re in much better form than Tottenham in 2019 and a longer break will not help that, really, in some ways.
“You do worry because you lose a bit of that rhythm that Liverpool have had the way they’ve been playing.
“I don’t think Tottenham are in great form. I know they got through and it’s unbelievable what they’ve done, I love Pochettino, but they’re not in great form so a longer break will help them forget the bad form and focus on this one game.”
