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LONDON. — Pep Guardiola launched a staunch defence of his decision to make eight changes to his team after Manchester City’s quadruple hopes ended with a 1-0 loss to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
Ruben Dias, Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne were the only players to keep their places from Wednesday’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund, with De Bruyne suffering an injury which makes him a doubt for next weekend’s Carabao Cup final.
City produced an uncharacteristically disjointed display at Wembley as Chelsea defended superbly and claimed their place in the final courtesy of Hakim Ziyech’s second-half strike.
The result put Guardiola’s wholesale changes under scrutiny, but he insisted any suggestions he did not take the FA Cup seriously enough were wide of the mark, pointing to their stellar record in cup competitions and highlighting the quick turnaround between fixtures.
“When you have two days and a half to recover and you play away, and you have to travel by train for three hours, and it was longer than three hours because we had to stop for one hour, and everyone deserves to play…don’t say we don’t pay attention,” he said.
“When a team arrives in the final stages of all the competitions, when this team, wins four finals in a row in the Carabao Cup, you can’t say that. Just say we lost the game.
“When you lose the game, the decisions are bad, but it is a poor argument my friends.
“We don’t get to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, the final of the Carabao Cup four years in a row and the semi-finals of the Champions League when we do not pay attention to anything.
“This team, for four or five years, always plays to win the game. It was a tight game, we were not able to win, congratulations Chelsea. But Chelsea is a top side, this can happen. — Sky Sports.
Online Reporter