City made seven changes to the side that beat Manchester United 3-1 on Sunday for Wednesday’s Champions League victory over FC Copenhagen, but Erling Haaland remained on the pitch until the 88th minute, despite the 6-2 aggregate scoreline.
Explaining his decision to not substitute Haaland until the latter stages, Guardiola told TNT Sports: “Introduce me to one type of player that doesn’t want to play all the minutes in all the games and I will be surprised. He needs rhythm and he needs to play. We need him and he made an incredible goal.
“It (the tie) was not done. People see the (first leg) result, 3-1, but in football, in this competition, it is never really done. It’s difficult to attack them, as a team who are well organised, but the result is there and now: next round.”
