Pep Guardiola can sometimes be a contradiction. Manchester City have been at this stage four times under the Catalan and on two of those occasions, succumb to Liverpool and Chelsea after heavy squad rotation.
Those who were out of the reckoning in the weeks beforehand were thrown in and failed.
Guardiola said on the eve of this – a more comfortable assignment, albeit against very good Championship opposition - that his team were exhausted.
And yet when the City XI came through, the rollcall included near ever-presents Erling Haaland, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish.