And he praised their mentality to keep pushing for success after we maintained our 100% start to the defence of our Champions League with a 3-1 win away to Young Boys.
Guardiola made seven changes as Erling Haaland’s double after Manuel Akanji’s opener saw us win our third successive Group G to sit on top of the table.
Julian Alvarez, who played twice for Argentina ahead of Saturday’s Premier League win over Brighton was rested, as was Phil Foden after picking up a ‘little problem’.
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But the changes didn’t impact too much as City made it back-to-back wins since the international break with the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday next.
“Their mentality, their quality as human beings,” Guardiola said when asked about his players’ ability to maintain their focus. “We tried to do it.
“We had seven new players because some of them were tired. Julian couldn’t play 90 minutes, Phil had a little problem.
“I don’t have a big squad so I rely on them a lot and they played a good game.”
Watch Pep’s press conference in the video player above...