Two Man City stars might have played their way onto Pep Guardiola's bench vs Liverpool FC

At the weekend, Pep Guardiola said he wasn't thinking about Sunday's trip to Liverpool at all, with this trip to Copenhagen — and Champions League qualification — the top priority. If it was, though, he'd have surely started goal machine Erling Haaland in Denmark, but for the first time since joining Manchester City he was on the bench.

Guardiola explained that fitness and fatigue was his reason for dropping players, especially Haaland, therefore suggesting they were being saved for the Liverpool trip on Sunday. While Copenhagen were obviously the weaker opposition of the two, dropping Haaland felt like an admission that Liverpool have always been the priority.

And keeping him on the bench throughout the contest cemented that.

Sergio Gomez came into this game on the back of three assists in his previous three appearances, with a chance to build on his two in last week's meeting with Copenhagen. However, when he tugged down Hakon Arnar Haraldsson 20 yards out as the last man, even referee Artur Dias couldn't get the decision wrong and he had to be sent off.

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He's now suspended for the trip to former club Borussia Dortmund, where he would have been likely to start now City are qualified, and won't be in Guardiola's good books by stretching an already-thin full-back department. His start to life at the Etihad was good until that point, but may have played himself out of the starting XI versus Liverpool.

Another opportunity came and went for Riyad Mahrez, who had scored two in his previous two starts following some public criticism of his fitness and physical condition from his manager. Still, a third successive start was a chance