Pep Guardiola focusing on Premier League after Man City progress in Europe

This is not a bad fixture for them either historically having got something out of three of their four Premier League encounters, including a famous 1-0 success in March 2015 as City’s title challenge that season under Manuel Pellegrimi started to crumble.

Pep Guardiola insists there is no pressure on Yaya Toure to reclaim his role as Manchester City’s talisman following the midfielder’s sensational return to first-team action last weekend.

Guardiola has never gone out before the semifinal stage in his managerial career and avoided a group stage exit by scurrying a point in Germany.

One of the main reasons that Guardiola has chosen to rotate his squad domestically is due to their Champions League commitments.

“Sergio had a problem with his foot and today we have training”.

They have also won their last two games at home against Everton and Crystal Palace.

Barca’s victory over Celtic means City can not top the group, which may not be a disaster.

Belgium skipper Vincent Kompany is ruled-out with knee ligament damage until the New Year and appears most in danger of being the fall-guy.

Stindl outmuscled John Stones to find space down the left and his low cross was deflected into Raffael’s path off Aleksandar Kolarov for the Brazilian to finish emphatically. Immediately, City looked a different, better-balanced team.

The hosts, who secured third place in the group and will go into the Europa League, took a surprise lead through Brazilian Raffael before David Silva equalised on the stroke of halftime. In fact it was eight because Fernandinho, who was also on a yellow card, pulled back Raffael and was sent off, to the fury of his manager.

However, both teams were reluctant to commit players forward with only 10 each on the pitch, which resulted in no further clear-cut chances as they shared the spoils.

De Bruyne told City TV: “It gives them more time to rest obviously”.

The Belgium worldwide was voted Germany’s player of the season in his final year before his move to the Premier League. In general we made a good performance.

But they were handed a lifeline 12 minutes later as Fernandinho was sent off for a second bookable offence, after blocking off his opponent.

Guardiola used Toure as a centre-back in Barcelona’s Champions League final triumph against Manchester United in 2009, and it has been suggested that he could put the Ivorian there again given Kompany’s latest injury set-back. It was De Bruyne who took control of the game to ensure there were no slip-ups. It’s not as if they’ve been falling apart at the back, as Guardiola’s system has helped masked their defensive issues.