The talking points as Manchester City eased into the Champions League quarter-finals with a 6-2 aggregate victory over FC Copenhagen.
It was a record-breaking night for Manchester City on Wednesday as they brushed Copenhagen aside to progress into the Champions League quarter-finals.
Foden and Bernardo 'too tired to play' Pep Guardiola insisted after the game that Sunday's showdown at Anfield had absolutely no bearing on his team selection against Copenhagen. 'We are exhausted', he said, adding that Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden reported they felt 'too tired' to start on Wednesday after their derby heroics. However, both wanted to play and the plan was for the pair to come off the bench in the second half if needed.
Alvarez's new position What was striking against Copenhagen was that among all the changes, there were also some new positions. Rico Lewis is often asked to invert into defensive midfield, but here he was replicating Walker's role bombing up the right. That allowed Matheus Nunes to exploit the space inside the channels on the right, with Oscar Bobb doing the same on the left - possibly due to Alvarez hugging the touchline on the left.
Pep notices mentality shift After guiding City into the Champions League last-eight for the seventh year in succession, Guardiona praised the club's changed mentality from when he arrived. "When we arrived from a club like Barcelona and and Bayern Munich what they demand is to always be there and I felt the club, not the players, didn’t feel it," he said, recalling painful defeats as a necessary part of the journey.
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