Manchester City legend Sergio Aguero has questioned manager Pep Guardiola’s decision after he failed to make a single substitution during his side’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
Despite an initial show of dominance, Man City fell behind at the Santiago Bernabeu after a sweet long-range strike from Real Madrid prodigy Vinicius just past the half-hour mark.
Kevin De Bruyne eventually netted a similarly eye-popping effort in the second half as the match ended in a draw.
Both teams will now face each other in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie next Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium.
Despite the intensity of the match between City and Madrid, Guardiola failed to introduce any new players into the clash to shake things up–leaving talents such as Julian Alvarez, Phil Foden, and Riyad Mahrez to watch from the sidelines for the entire duration of the game.
By contrast, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti made three second-half changes, swapping starters Rodrygo, Toni Kroos, and Luka Modric for Marco Asensio, Aurelien Tchouameni, and Nacho Fernandez.
Speaking about the game, Aguero asked why Guardiola did not feature Alvarez.
“What I don’t understand is why he [Guardiola] didn’t put [on] Julian,” Aguero said on ESPN en Star + watch-along.
“I wonder, but well, it is Pep. If it was up to me, I would play Julian in almost every game because we need him to be active and for him to have a spark,” Aguero said.