Man City facing nightmare fixture pile-up despite Champions League exit

Manchester City may be out of Europe, but the Blues could still face a mounting fixture pile-up in the weeks ahead. Pep Guardiola's side were knocked out of the Champions League last month by Real Madrid, yet still have plenty to play for on the domestic front.

The Blues triumphed in the Carabao Cup at Wembley and now face an FA Cup quarter-final showdown with Liverpool at the Etihad on Saturday.

Should City overcome Arne Slot's side, they will return to Wembley for a semi-final later this month and potentially a final in May.

Such an outcome would require two Premier League fixtures to be rescheduled, with the Blues already needing to find a new date for their trip to Crystal Palace, which was originally pencilled in for Carabao Cup final weekend, reports the Manchester Evening News.

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That rearrangement is further complicated by Palace's continued involvement in European competition, with the Eagles facing Serie A outfit Fiorentina in the Conference League quarter-finals next week.

Should Palace advance into the last four, the already limited options for fitting in the City fixture would be trimmed even further.

The Premier League confirmed this week that any fixtures requiring rescheduling on FA Cup semi-final day would be played during the week commencing April 20.

Should City overcome Liverpool, they will face a semi-final showdown on either Saturday, April 24 or Sunday, April 25. Their league trip to Burnley would then be slotted in between Tuesday, April 21 and Thursday, April 23.

This would mean City's fixture against Palace would need to be pushed back into May, with the two possible windows being the week beginning May 11 and the week beginning May 18.

The FA Cup final is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, and should City make it to Wembley, their Premier League away fixture at Bournemouth that same weekend would also require rearranging.

Such a scenario would leave City staring down a gruelling run of nine matches in just five weeks, kicking off with a blockbuster Etihad showdown against Arsenal on Sunday, April 19 and concluding on the final day of the season on Sunday, May 24.