Manchester City's Pep Guardiola says it's 'thanks to the physios' when his players are match fit

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola heaped praise on his physiotherapy team in the run-up to his side’s stunning victory over local rivals United in yesterday's Premier League derby game.

The Spaniard was speaking about the support given to Erling Haaland, who joined City from Borussia Dortmund in the summer and scored a thrilling hat-trick on Sunday – his third in successive home matches – to help propel his club to second place in the league table.

Haaland, 22, has started every game for City this season, having had some surgery and overcoming various niggling injuries that hampered his early appearances.

In an article in Saturday’s Guardian (1 October), Mr Guardiola praised Haaland’s rehab team, saying: ‘Everyone is important, but I’ve always said to the club that the most important department in the backroom staff is the physios. They take care of the legs.’

Everyone is important, but I’ve always said to the club that the most important department in the backroom staff is the physios. They take care of the legs [Pep Guardiola ]

Mario Pafundi in the spotlight

While Guardiola put Haaland's fitness down to a team effort, he particularly highlighted the efforts of Mario Pafundi – whose LinkedIn profile states that he has been a ‘sport therapist’ with Manchester City since 2016. A section on Mr Pafundi's educational background states that he studied at the United Campus of Malta from 1995 to 2017, with both sport therapy and ‘fisioterapia/fisioterapista’ being mentioned.

Praising the team, including the ‘exceptional' input of Mr Pafundi – and also lauding Haaland’s own work ethic – Guardiola said the Norway international is now able to play regularly as a result of their work. ‘Last season it was not possible. When the players can play most of the time it’s thanks to the physios.'

Mr Pafundi accompanied Haaland to Norway during the recent international break, Mr Guardiola explained: ‘It’s not weird’. Physios often ‘go with the players’ to events such as the World Cup finals and European championships, he added.

James Baldwin is the club’s head of physiotherapy, according to the Premier League's directory. See: https://www.premierleague.com/clubs/11/Manchester-City/directory