Maresca on Man City rotation dilemma ahead of Champions League clash | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca has hinted at rotation ahead of his side’s opening Champions League clash.

The Blues will travel to Portugal to face FC Porto on Tuesday night. They will then face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, where Maresca will take charge in the Manchester derby for the first time.

It is the start of a busy period, with games soon coming thick and fast, and squad management becoming crucial. 

“The first game is on Tuesday,” explained City’s boss. “So the focus has to be on the Tuesday game, then after that we focus on the next one. 

“I think with Ayoubb (Bouaddi), with Ryan McAidoo, as you said, Iliman Ndiaye they probably haven’t played in the Champions League yet. But they need to start.

“So on Tuesday they’re going to start getting minutes in the Champions League.”

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City maintained their perfect start to the Premier League with a 1-0 win over Coventry on Saturday. The only goal of the game came from Erling Haaland, who has played every league minute for City so far this campaign.

Maresca continued: “At the moment he plays every minute, probably other than the Community Shield final where we changed him.

“But for sure we need to protect Erling because, again, the season is very long and he’s going to have games where he needs to recover.”

“Yeah, it depends a little bit on the game plan,” he answered on whether there is sufficient backup options to the Norwegian. “It depends a little bit on the game.

“Antoine (Semenyo) has played nine in the past, I know that Phil (Foden) sometimes played false nine. It depends a little bit on the game.”

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