Pep Guardiola said that Jack Grealish was substituted at half-time in the Champions League against Sevilla because the team needs him for the weekend.
Grealish came off for Rodri at the break as the Blues recovered from a sluggish first period that had seen them go in 1-0 down at the break to win 3-1 and end their group stage with another win. Julian Alvarez assisted two and scored one while Rico Lewis scored on his full debut for the club.
Despite the change working for the match, Guardiola said afterwards that Grealish had been the best City player in the first half and that if some of the reasons for him going off were tactical it was also down to wanting to preserve him for future games.
Also read: Julian Alvarez does what some Man City teammates fail to in Sevilla win
"Jack was the best player in the first half, more direct but he played a really tough game in the last game. We need him for the next game and we needed a left foot on the left," he said.
"The first half we were there but we struggled to attack especially because we played right foot on the left and left foot on the right and you go inside and with five in the back it's more difficult and second half with Sergio [Gomez] left and Rico [Lewis] right and more people like Phil [Foden] and Cole [Palmer] closer to Julian we felt from the minute one of the second half we had more presence in the final third because against 5-4-1 it is difficult.
"In the second half we were much better, Rodri's impact was good and we made a really good game in general."
READ MORE:
