Pep Guardiola named a fringe player in his Champions League squad just to bump up the numbers. Even then, Manchester City were a couple of players short of their maximum limit.
But over at Chelsea, Guardiola's former assistant, Enzo Maresca, has had to carefully juggle his European squad knowing he had too many players for the 25-man limit.
His solution: leave out Cole Palmer. It is a bold call to omit your best player, the only forward in a sea of forwards consistently creating goals, but the decision was put down to 'load management'.
Probably a clever call to manage all the egos in the squad, too. ALSO READ: Worrying Man City position backs up grave Pep Guardiola warning as new reality bites ALSO READ: City include surprise player in 22-man Champions League squad as Bobb left out Chelsea's scattergun transfer policy has bamboozled the world of football, but in this situation it has its advantages.