The boss made seven changes ahead of our Premier League clash with Leeds from the side that triumphed 2-1 in dramatic fashion in the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Borussia Dortmund.
Despite dominating for large periods of the match, City suffered a surprise setback in Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off against the Yorkshire outfit, with Stuart Dallas’ late strike earning the visitors all three points.
Guardiola has always stressed that rotation is key to being successful on multiple fronts, but immediately dismissed suggestions that changes were made with Wednesday’s Champions League clash in mind.
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“I say many times to the players, ‘you play because I want to let you play’ but it’s not because I want to reserve players,” he maintained.
“I put a selection to win the game. I demand the guys who play every single game to win.
“I don’t select on competition. I select every team to win each specific game.
“If not, you cannot arrive in this position in the Premier League and the other competitions.
“Now we will rest together, prepare for Dortmund and then the other ones.”
Squad rotation has been a crucial factor in our sustained push for glory on both a domestic and European setting, with City tasting defeat on just two occasions in the past 36 matches.
Guardiola was quick to highlight this, but also gave credit to Leeds for their defiant display at the Etihad Stadium.
He added: “We conceded an avoidable goal so we need to be more aggressive and concentrate on that and we didn’t do it.
“We created enough chances to win the game, we didn’t do it, congratulations to Leeds.
“With 28 games, we won 27, and the rotation was exceptional.
“If you can assure me the players who didn’t play today would win, you would be a manager… a perfect manager.”
