Pep hails Man City's squad depth after changing 7 players in win over Copenhagen
Pep Guardiola praised the strength of Manchester City’s squad as they reached the Champions League quarter-finals for the seventh consecutive years.
Guardiola changed seven players for Wednesday night’s second leg win against Copenhagen with Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne given the night off with Sunday’s titanic Premier League clash against Liverpool coming up next.
City were still too strong for the Danes, repeating their 3-1 first leg win to advance 6-2 on aggregate. Manuel Akanji, Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland were the scorers, all in the first half.
‘I needed energy and fresh legs, I know how tired and my other exhausted some of my players were,’ said Guardiola.
‘I know how Phil ran against United. I spoke with all of them, they said they were tired. The Premier League is the only place where you play Sunday and then Wednesday in the Champions League.
‘Talk to the Premier League about it? No way. It doesn’t depend on them – it is the broadcasters. They pay a lot of money so shut up!’
‘We were lucky to score two early goals because this competition is so dangerous.
‘Our squad is 20 players, not 12. Of course there are players who play more than the other ones. But everyone makes a contribution and today I needed fresh people.’
Guardiola said he wouldn’t take questions on Liverpool until his press conference on Friday, eager to big up the achievement of reaching the quarter-finals again in Europe’s premier competition.
‘I had a feeling when I arrived from Bayern and Barceloa who were always about winning that people here didn’t feel we could do it.
‘Managers don’t normally get time but they gave us time to lose against Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham, the process to do it.
‘It is easier for teams with history.
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