Pep Guardiola has revealed that Kevin De Bruyne was taken off in Manchester City's 3-0 Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Tuesday for tactical reasons amid concerns that he sustained an injury.
The 31-year-old playmaker was named in the starting lineup for the first leg of the Citizens' quarter-final clash against Bayern at the Etihad Stadium, joining Ilkay Gundogan and Rodri in centre-midfield – the latter of whom scored a stunning opening goal in the 27th minute.
Bernardo Silva doubled City's lead with a close-range header on the 70-minute mark before Erling Braut Haaland netted another record-breaking goal to seal an impressive victory for Guardiola's side, who will take a commanding three-goal advantage to Germany for the second leg in just over a weeks' time.
Just a few minutes before Bernardo's goal, De Bruyne required some treatment on the touchline after he appeared to jar his knee when attempting to keep the ball in play.
De Bruyne gingerly returned to the pitch and insisted to Guardiola that he was fine to continue, but to the Belgian's disappointment, he was eventually withdrawn by his manager in the 68th minute and replaced by Julian Alvarez.
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Guardiola has since cooled fears that De Bruyne has picked up an injury and has clarified that his decision to take off City's No.17 was a tactical one.
Asked for the reason behind his decision to replace De Bruyne, Guardiola told reporters, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News: "Tactical decision. Julian for him.
"I saw the performance and took the decision, in that moment we needed extra energy from Julian. I am here to take the decisions and it is my biggest quality."
City were able to cope without their chief playmaker as they scored two more goals in the final 20 minutes to put them in control of the quarter-final tie, condemning Bayern to their heaviest Champions League defeat since September 2017 in the process.
Guardiola has hailed City's impressive performance and their "special" form at the Etihad Stadium, but has insisted that a difficult test at the Allianz Arena is still to come against Thomas Tuchel's side.
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"I know what we have to do there, and we have to perform really well [in the second leg]," Guardiola said as quoted by mancity.com. "They are able to score one, two, three, I know it and the players know it.
"It was an incredible result but we have to do our game with a huge, huge personality because they are a top team.
"Here we have our chances. Here in this stadium we are something special this season. When we have the momentum we are clinical.
"It is the same in Munich. I have been there for three years. I know what it means and the people. But we are going there to score the goals and to try to win the game. To do that will be so difficult."
Man City, who have put together a nine-game winning run across all competitions, will now turn their attention back to the Premier League title race with a clash at home against relegation-threatened Leicester City up next on home soil on Saturday.
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