Pep Guardiola sends message to Sergio Gomez in Man City win over Borussia Dortmund

It was all forgotten about after his phenomenal strike, but John Stones endured a tough 80 minutes at right-back against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night.

While he was sound in his defensive duties, he struggled to pick out the pass going forward and rarely joined Riyad Mahrez in attacks down the right.

Kyle Walker’s tendency to pick up injuries has always been a concern for Manchester City. Joao Cancelo is a right-back by trade but has performed brilliantly on the left and the option is always there for him to move across when needed.

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So that's why it was a surprise to see Stones fill that void against Dortmund and not the Portugal international. Pep Guardiola was keen to bring in a replacement for Oleksandr Zinchenko in the summer for cover at left-back should Cancelo be needed on the right.

Sergio Gomez arrived and it looked like Guardiola had his contingency plan in place. But the Catalan coach’s decision to play Stones out of position and leave Cancelo on the left against Dortmund will have disappointed Gomez.

The 22-year-old played the full 90 minutes on his full debut in last week’s 4-0 win over Sevilla and put in a decent shift. However, decent is the minimum requirement for a team pushing for the trophy.

Guardiola’s decision will have sent the message to Gomez that, currently, he doesn't feel confident putting him in against a European heavyweight such as Dortmund. Sevilla may be considered in that category by many, but they look a shadow of their former selves this season.

The youngster still has time on his side but his omission comes as a reminder that he will have to earn his stripes at City. He arrived at the Etihad