Pep Guardiola will rotate his Manchester City side to give them every chance of winning the Champions League in August.
The City boss wants to try to keep his full squad together but is already waiting for an update on the availability of Sergio Aguero after the striker had surgery on his left knee in Barcelona.
With such a busy schedule ahead on the back of a three-month break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Guardiola was already fearful of picking up injuries.
And with Liverpool certain to win the Premier League, more focus is being given to the FA Cup defence, starting at Newcastle on Sunday, followed by the European second leg against Real Madrid after City's 2-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“Right now we are all excited for the way we compete - it was always a little bit of a mystery the way we would play after a long time,” Guardiola said ahead of Thursday’s trip to Chelsea.
“All the teams think about this, but talking as the manager of Man City, we had doubts about what is going to happen and we've reacted well.
“But we are focused over the next two months ahead on first of all qualifying for the Champions League - that is the most important thing right now and these two victories over Arsenal and Burnley helped us to be close.
“After we have Newcastle and Real Madrid and these are the targets. For these we have to arrive with as much players in the best condition as possible which is why we want to avoid injuries and to rotate the team, depending on how many minutes they've played.”
No timescale has yet been put on Aguero’s return, but Guardiola admitted that his absence would be a significant blow.
“Of course the impact is big - to win the Champions League you have to arrive in the right moment in the best condition as possible,” he added.
“But at the same time the situation is what it is, and sometimes when this happens teams make a step forward with the rest of the players to solve these situations and that is what we have to do.
“We have to wait and hopefully he can help us against Madrid and if we’re good enough to go through, maybe [he will be back] for the next rounds.”
Aguero’s injury leaves Gabriel Jesus as the only recognised striker in the first team squad but Guardiola insists it is impossible for the Brazilian to play in every game and will call on Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan to fill the void.
The name-checking of Gundogan was particularly surprising with the 29-year-old more recently used as a defensive midfielder, but the City boss says he is clever enough to play anywhere on the pitch.
“There are incredible players who can only play one position and Ilkay can play in many positions,” Guardiola added. “Not as a striker as a main target but a striker, who can drop and play and get to the box.
“He is an outstanding player because he is so intelligent and intelligent players can play as full-backs, wingers, in the same time, the same role.
“We are disappointed for Sergio because we need him a lot. We have Gabriel and we don’t have any doubts about him as everyone knows, but of course we play a lot of games with a short time for recovery with a lack of preparation. That’s why we have to think about different options.
"Sterling can play there without a doubt, it’s an incredible position for him to play but in the same time Bernardo can play there. He played at Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup and had an incredible performance.”
