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Pep Guardiola applauds City ‘important’ win over Burnley

Pep Guardiola admitted it was “important” for Manchester City to beat Burnley in the Carabao Cupat Turf Moor on Wednesday night.

City’s known to play well against the Clarets got two goals from Raheem Sterling as they cruised to a 3-0 win and a spot in the quarterfinals, a very different performance from the one in a 5-2 home loss to Leicester City at the weekend.

After a later start to the season than most of the Premier League, plenty of injuries, and just one more match before the international break, getting City’s players going is a priority for Pep Guardiola.

“We are still far away from our best because we’re not training much,” Guardiola said. “Step by step when we have all the squad we will get better. I hope we won’t be far away from the people up front but we are in the quarter-finals of this competition again so it’s good. When you lose a game the most important thing is the next one.”

City started Zack Steffen as well as unusual starters Cole Palmer and Ferran Torres. Aymeric Laporte got his first 90 minutes since a positive COVID-19 test and Bernardo Silva made his season debut off the bench.

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Steffen made two stops for his clean sheet and 18-year-old Palmer was okay in his senior debut, but Torres was Man of the Match quality good. The $26 million Valencia import had his first City goal and assist in the win.

“He is a young player and still needs a little bit of time to understand what we want to do,” Guardiola said. “He’s clever in the final third, with his passes. He doesn’t cross to cross, he passes the ball.”

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