Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has justified his starting lineup and tactical plan against Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clash.

Guardiola watched on as his side was thumped 3–0 by a depleted Real Madrid side at Santiago Bernabéu on Wednesday, March 11.

Los Blancos skipper Federico Valverde netted a historic hat-trick for Álvaro Arbeloa's side to give the 15-time winners a huge first-leg advantage ahead of the return fixture at Etihad Stadium next week.

Speaking in his post-match interview, Pep Guardiola hit back at critics for claiming he made too many changes to his starting lineup.

“The only adjustment was [Abdukodir] Khusanov because Vinicius moves in that area, and we wanted a guy who doesn’t think much to attack,” Guardiola said.

“The rest? (Wingers?) Yeah, injured two months, yeah. And they played incrediblely; Savinho in Newcastle, Jeremy [Doku] always is an incredible threat.

“And people with experience, Bernardo [Silva] and Rodri, runners with Nico [O’Reilly] and Antoine [Semenyo], the sense of goal that all of them have, set-pieces – that was the idea.

“Rotation? I’ve done it in Newcastle, nine players were different. I understand what I’m saying; the target was wingers to try to drop them, people in the middle in pockets to arrive close to the box, control second structures with experienced players, fast players behind – that was the idea…”