Pep Guardiola has appeared to aim a thinly-veiled dig as Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp after guiding Manchester City to their third straight League Cup final.
City will play Aston Villa in the Carabao Cup final after beating Manchester United 3-2 on aggregate in the semi-final, despite a 1-0 second-leg defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola, who has guided City to two straight Premier League titles, fielded a strong line-up while Klopp's Liverpool were knocked out in the quarter-finals after sending an U23s side to face Aston Villa.
Klopp has attracted criticism this week for announcing neither his first-team players nor he will be present for the FA Cup fourth-round replay at home to Shrewsbury next week as it falls within their scheduled Premier League hiatus.
And Guardiola insists he will always name his strongest XI - no matter the competition.
“People say we are complacent about what we have won,” he said.
“You don’t try to diss the humble competition of the season, if you are not able to do [win the Premier League] three times in a row with big games in the Premier League and Champions League and everyone there.
“When you win a lot, they say this competition does not matter, but with me this does not happen. It doesn’t matter, we try to do it.
“Being at Wembley with a historic team like Villa, we are happy to be there.”
Liverpool manager Klopp, meanwhile, is adamant he has to take a stand over the mid-season break or nothing will ever change in the future.
"I have to make decisions that aren't popular, based on the situation we are in," said the German.
"I don't want to be in the middle of all these discussions, I'm not a revolutionary guy and want to show the whole world how strong I can be. That is absolutely not the reason.
"If we always react in the same way we always react - 'We have to sort it somehow and find a way to do it' - then nothing will change, and I think all people in football agree things have to change.
"The discussion now is good. I got a lot of support message-wise."
