Manchester City assistant Juanma Lillo raised a very important detail with Pep Guardiola during Bratislava win | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola was made aware of what could be a crucial factor in Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League fate this season by assistant Juanma Lillo.

The Premier League champions cruised to their first victory of this season’s competition on Tuesday night, having been held to a 0-0 draw by Inter Milan on matchday one at the Etihad Stadium last month.

First-half goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Jeremy Doku set the side on their way to a routine victory, before second-half efforts from Erling Haaland and James McAtee would round off the scoring and move Manchester City further up the league standings in Europe.

But with Slovan Bratislava seemingly there for the taking in Slovakia this week, many wondered why Pep Guardiola didn’t maintain his best side on the pitch and go in search of further goals in the match, to the best of his ability.

Speaking after City’s dominant 0-4 win on matchday two of the UEFA Champions League, Guardiola revealed the conversation he had with his assistant coach, Juanma Lillo over the prospect of scoring more goals on the night affecting the new league phase format.

“Yeah, Juanma said this to me but now I’m not thinking about that,” Pep Guardiola said after the contest. “I’m maybe a bit conservative, just thinking about winning your games being enough.”

Guardiola continued, “But the group is difficult and we have three tough, tough games away against Sporting de Lisboa, Juventus, and PSG. So we have to do a lot of points, but today we made the first victory to see us in the table a little bit higher than we were, so it’s nice.”

Manchester City will resume their UEFA Champions League duties after the international break, when Czech Republic-based side Sparta Prague visit the Etihad Stadium on matchday three of the league phase.

Before then, City will take on back-to-back Premier League encounters either side of international commitments, with a home clash against Fulham on Saturday afternoon followed by a trip to Wolves’ Molineux on October 20.