It's quite rare to see two A-list managers completely buy into each other's views and reflections especially after a tensely fought encounter which was littered with niggling fouls and controversial decisions. But after Liverpool and Manchester City played out a high-octane draw on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola united to fire a broadside at the fixture congestion. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no winter break scheduled for European football leagues this season, which means the players have to go through a grueling fixture list until the campaign ends in May. 

"I think everybody would agree that if you play Tuesday night, you can play the Saturday 12:30 p.m. game, but somehow the Premier League never realizes that," fumed Klopp. 

"They always put in the Wednesday night game, like last Saturday, Man City had to play this game [12:30 p.m. on Saturday] – I can't believe it. We are obviously not friends, we play against each other and fight against each other, but how is that possible?" he added.

Klopp also bemoaned the strain of a fixture pile-up caused by the coronavirus after his reliable full-back Trent Alexander-Arnold limped off in the second half of an exhausting outing. 

"Trent will be out for England [for the three upcoming fixtures]. What [injury] he has we don't know but he cannot play for England and he is not the first and will not be the last that Gareth [Southgate, the England manager] will miss," Klopp said. 

The German tactician even suggested that the fixture congestion could have a knock-on effect on the postponed Euro 2020. "Hopefully we can play the Euros next summer – but if we continue like this let's see which players can be part of that," Klopp observed. 

The stance was later echoed by Guardiola, who is concerned about players' health. "Today the right-back for the national team of England is injured. Tomorrow it will be another player. It is too much," he said. "It is so demanding for the players – and is the same for all teams. I don't understand how the Premier League addresses the situation."

Guardiola said he didn't think the current problem of cramming too many matches in a tight calendar will be solved in a short term.  

"I don't have any optimistic solution...because each one looks for himself and his business. My business is to protect my players. Lebron James won the NBA and now he is going on holiday for two months, three months. Our guys have eight days..."  the Spaniard said.  

"I remember when I was a young player and I read the news from England – Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger complaining the same thing about what [Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar] Solskjær is saying," he added. 

On Saturday, Solskjær fired the first shot of the weekend by saying that United were "set up to fail" in the Premier League's early kick-off following their long-distance Champions League trip to Istanbul on Wednesday. 

He revealed that the injury problems of Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelof all linked directly to the fixture schedule. "Hopefully the injuries are not too serious but they [Shaw and Rashford] looked in a bad way towards the end [against Everton]," he said.

"I don't really want to lighten the mood. It is such a serious issue. Players are not robots, they are human beings, and the authorities need to take a step back and think twice about the times we are living in. We have had far too many injuries this season and I'm not just talking about my team." 

The injury crisis has already spread to other elite teams. Barcelona's Ansu Fati suffered torn meniscus during Barcelona's 5-2 win over Real Betis. The 18-year-old talent, who is Barca's top scorer in La Liga so far this season, could be out for a few months after completing his surgery on Sunday. 

The injury rules him out of Spain's upcoming games this month against Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany after he was named in Luis Enrique's squad earlier this week.

In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich suffered a huge blow as key midfielder Joshua Kimmich also suffered torn meniscus during their 3-2 win over Dortmund. Kimmich will certainly miss the rest of this calendar year, including six Bundesliga matches, three Champions League group stage games and the German Cup second round. 

There is no doubt that if the schedule pile-up is not addressed, more injuries could follow. But managers feel powerless and helpless to deal with the consequences. 

"I can't say enough how hard these times are for everyone, not just footballers, and we just want to see football with quality," said Solskjær. "How can you expect players to perform to the best of their ability when you send them out at 12.30 p.m.? Absolute joke."