Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City barely had time to train with their preferred lineup before outclassing PSG to seal top spot in the Champions League.
Phil Foden trained with the Blues yesterday but was forced out of the matchday squad after feeling pain from a blow he suffered in the 3-0 win over Everton, leaving the manager to hastily reshuffle his pack. Aleks Zinchenko came into the XI for his third start of the season and his first-ever performance for City in the central midfield role that he has played in for his national team.
The back four were, unusually, put through their paces in the warm-up as a unit as Guardiola sought every second possible to get his team ready with the new plan.
As soon as the game kicked off, City were dominant and despite going behind to Kylian Mbappe's second-half strike they rallied for a deserved win.
Asked about training time with his XI, Guardiola said: "No, but we know each other quite well, they know what they have to do, they can make adjustments but not much. Aleks knew he’d play this position and he made good actions and helped us to defend well.
"It was a long time ago since he played in his natural position, I would say he almost never played in this position. It was not easy to find the space, the first minutes were uncomfortable but after that he played well."
