Pep Guardiola pleased to navigate dangerous pitch at Burton
City seal 10-0 aggregate victory to reach next month's Carabao Cup final
Wednesday 23 January 2019 22:53, UK
Pep Guardiola was pleased his Manchester City players came through a treacherous Carabao Cup semi-final at Burton unscathed.
City will face either Chelsea or Tottenham in next month's final after completing a 10-0 aggregate victory with a 1-0 win at the Pirelli Stadium on Wednesday.
However, with temperatures close to freezing, the City boss was relieved the victory was not marred by injuries to his squad.
"The pitch was so dangerous, so slippery," he told Sky Sports.
"We had a good game, we missed the last pass but Burton had two or three good chances and [Arijanet] Muric was outstanding.
"We are in the final. We started 9-0 up but I didn't see a lack of desire. We played seriously and had no injuries.
"It's important to be in the final, it's not easy to get to back-to-back finals, it doesn't matter which competition. Now we will prepare well and try to win."
Guardiola opted for a mix of youth and experience for the semi-final second leg, as Eric Garcia, Philippe Sandler, Ian Carlo Poveda-Campo and Phil Foden started.
Kevin de Bruyne and Benjamin Mendy also got valuable minutes under their belts as their respective returns from injury continue.
"The young players were good, Poveda was so clever with the ball, and Sandler as well," Guardiola added.
"[Felix] Nmecha in the second half was good. Kevin came back and played really good minutes, Sergio as well.
"Sandler's future is quite good. He has a lot of quality. It was not easy to play today on this pitch but he has the vision to see good passes and he was clever.
"Both central defenders are so young and played really good."
