The 1-0 scoreline may not suggest so but Manchester City barely had a problem beating Chelsea on Sunday 21 May 2023.
What was notable about the game was the squad Pep Guardiola named and the squad he did not name.
Ederson, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish, Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland all remained on the bench. All those players cost Man City around £490m.
Some of them were eventually subbed on but the fact remains that Man City can beat Premier League opponents (although Chelsea aren't exactly a top side this season, granted) with their best players rested.
Not long ago, Jose Mourinho kinda took a dig at City when asked about the quality of his team's football as compared to Man City's.
"The only teams that do not suffer are exceptional teams that have on the bench €40m or €70m players," said Mourinho. "If you look at City’s semi-final, they brought on Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez in the second half.
"We spent €7m in the transfer market and we are in the [Europa League] final. What we have done is extraordinary."
