Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has cast doubt on whether the Premier League should continue through a second national lockdown.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the new restrictions on Saturday with all non-essential services to close starting from Thursday this week for a four-week period.
But elite sport has been given an exemption to move on, although supporters will still be prohibited from attending games.
The Premier League paused its campaign when the country went into the first lockdown, and they resumed when a fully-operational testing system was in place.
And the Man City head coach has now questioned whether it is the right decision to carry on playing football this time around.
Speaking ahead of Johnson’s speech, Guardiola said: “It’s difficult. I know the prime minister is taking the decision because the situation is getting worse. It happened in Spain, Germany and France. Everywhere.
“So the virus is still there. Maybe people say it is stronger. I think the world of football cannot be an exception in what is happening in society.
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“So if we have to play, we will play. But we don’t want to be different from the rest of society when they have to close restaurants or close whatever.
“It’s a position in which I am not involved. I want to be safe. I want to keep well for myself, for my family, my friends, for all England, all of the UK. But honestly I don’t know.”
Guardiola also urged the public to take the second wave of Coronavirus seriously – and stay inside their homes.
“It’s not a joke. It’s serious,” he added. “If he says stay at home, you have to stay at home. If he says don’t do this, we don’t do it.
“Because it’s not fair for half of the population doing what we have to do and the prime minister says this, and the rest of the people do whatever they want. “So we have to be conscious – the reality is tough, it’s difficult. If we have to stop, we are going to stop.
“If we have to play, because they decide it’s good for society or for I don’t know, just be alert, be careful, take maximum consciousness of the dangers of the situation in which we are living.”
