Pep Guardiola won't be fielding a host of youngsters in Manchester City's final Champions League group game at Dinamo Zagreb.
The Blues have already made sure of top spot in their group, improving their chances of a favourable draw for the knockout stages, and with a heavy fixture list coming up that could allow Guardiola to rotate his squad.
But the City boss insists it will be senior first team players who feature in Croatia rather than the kids. While the fixture might seem an ideal opportunity to blood some of the club's emerging talent, Guardiola is determined to protect the integrity of the Champions League.
While his side are already through, Dinamo Zagreb, Shakhtar Donestk and Atalanta can all still qualify, with the latter reliant on City getting a result on Croatia if they are to make it through themselves.
Guardiola will asses his options nearer to the December 11 fixture, but has warned supporters not to expect wholesale changes and academy prospects playing.
"Of course I will take a look there, but we’re going to have enough players, if we need someone we’re going to use them, but we will use the first team, it’s the Champions League, it’s prestigious," he said.
"[Two years ago] we travelled to Shakhtar already qualified, we fight until the end, 2-0 down and then 2-1, we had chances at the end.
"We’re going to travel with the intention to win, but you need a real urgency to do that, but to respect Shakhtar and Atalanta we have to do it."
