If players are injured then of course they need a break, there is no doubt about that. But it is also always a tightrope act when you as a coach decide to give players a break before big matches. You don't want to get them out of their routines, out of their shape either. There are examples for both situations when coaches gave not enough breaks, but also when they gave very long breaks to top players who then had problems to return to normal out of a sudden when the game started and they had to switch gears from nothing to the maximum. If it is about injuries, sure giving a break is the right and only way to go, but you want your players to keep going and keep their level as well until the final takes place.
I think when you played until May, just because you would have a single game break doesn't mean that you would be out of match shape or anything like that. Everyone does that, if a player manages to do like 6-7 games a month for 2-3 months, then getting one break is nothing at all, it's just a rest and I am sure that they really needed that.
I know that it is not going to be that much of a trouble for them, it's going to end up being something a bit more towards what we can be doing in the end and that's what I assume will work for them in the end. I know that we are going to be at a situation where it will take a while but that doesn't mean that we are going to end up with a trouble at the end, we just need to focus on how much rest they can get from single game, not much I assume.
As I said it is about finding the right dosage. You want players to have a break and therefore you rotate between those who always play and those who are more often substitutional players, but again you also don't want to take someone out for too long. This discussion is similar to the problem that PSG is having. The play in Ligue 1 and everything is easy and out of a sudden the opponent is called Bayern or Manchester City and then they have problems to adjust to the new situation because they aren't facing that challenge permanently.
Some players even insist on playing because they feel it is better for them and I can understand that.
But I agree with you, when you take out De Bruyne for example, that is no problem because he doesn't need any time to get into the game with his maximum again. But there are other players who have more trouble to find their optimal form once they are coming from the bench a couple of times.
Well, professional players do get a lot of additional recovery when they even skip only game. It is not like with normal people. Their body conditioned to perform high and recovery quickly with all the additional support from therapists.