John Stones and Rodri are also unavailable for Wednesday’s quarter-final, further testing City’s depth in key areas of the pitch. On top of domestic injuries, international commitments have thinned the squad, with Omar Marmoush and Rayan Ait-Nouri away at the Africa Cup of Nations representing Egypt and Algeria, respectively.
Guardiola has been candid about the challenges of rotation when recovery time is limited. With a home league match against struggling West Ham United looming just three days after the Brentford tie, the manager confirmed that several players rested at Selhurst Park will return, alongside others on the fringes and selected academy prospects.
"James [Trafford] is going to play and all the players who didn’t play against Palace will play, plus some not in the squad and, of course, some from the academy because after that there is three days and we face West Ham," Guardiola said.
The manager was careful to stress that reaching the semi-finals still matters, yet he also acknowledged lessons learned from past experiences. The defeat to Leverkusen, he said, exposed the importance of leadership on the pitch as much as technical quality.
"I am not saying it’s not the priority to reach the semi-final but when we have done it before it is because we have all the squad, no injuries, we can rotate and the team is good and we get to the latter stage," Guardiola explained.
"The problem against Leverkusen was not having a father figure on the pitch. There are players where it is not about their quality, it is about how they lead. That is a lesson I learnt, that you have to find that balance. But of course there are players with lots of minutes, we travelled to Crystal Palace and three days later we play in Manchester. We don’t have much time to recover."