I saw Pep Guardiola show what he really thought of Rodri's tired comments as Man City beat Luton

The moments you might have missed as Manchester City beat Luton in the Premier League ahead of the Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

It was almost the perfect afternoon for Pep Guardiola as Manchester City eased past Luton ahead of Wednesday's huge Champions League clash against Real Madrid.

A number of key players were rested, two injured men returned to the squad and some fringe players impressed against the Premier League's bottom side. City went top of the table for the first time since November, albeit only for 24 hours if Liverpool and Arsenal win on Sunday, and can now switch attention firmly towards Real.

In a game that took an hour to truly get going, City eventually flexed their muscles to add four to their goal difference that could prove important in the title race. These are the moments you might have missed from the Etihad on Saturday.

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Pep's telling reaction to De Bruyne booking

The general rule is that Pep Guardiola is never happy until the trophies are won at the end of the season. Even a first-minute goal to take any jeopardy out of the game didn't please the boss, with a muted reaction as the players waited to restart after the ball cannoned into the goal off the unfortunate Daiki Hashioka's face. Misplaced passes and broken-down moves were met with frustration from the boss, who never looked happy during the first half.

He was constantly barking instructions and seemed to be keen for them to direct play down the left, before City often went right. A frustrating first half ended with Kevin De Bruyne earning a yellow card - but instead of complaining to the fourth official, Guardiola simply walked up to Darren Bond, patted him on the back, and walked away. Maybe it was sarcastic, but it was at least refrained. His unhappiness was firmly towards his players.

Rodri's 'rest' doesn't go to plan

Guardiola was unimpressed after learning of Rodri's public request to have a rest after the Real Madrid first leg. He made it clear that any player not wanting to play will simply be replaced by someone else, but essentially told Rodri that everyone will be tired and that he expected his midfielder to report ready to start on Saturday. As it happened, Rodri was named on the bench, but he hardly got 90 minutes of putting his feet up as others have done when there is zero intention to play them.

Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes started Rodri's absence, securing City's first league win without the Spaniard since October 2022 after four straight defeats. Rodri wasn't required but after a half-time warm-up, he was sent out for much of the second half to go through his paces even as City scored a third, fourth and fifth.

Both Rodri and Bernardo were standing on the touchline for the final 20-or-so minutes, either taking the opportunity to get a closer look at the second half, or via instructions from the bench. In City's Amazon documentary, Pep Guardiola famously said: "You are tired? F--- you!" After his blunt comments on Rodri on Friday, and the Spaniard's interesting use as an unused substitute on Saturday, maybe that was the same message relayed to the no.16 against Luton.

City fans 'assist' Kovacic goal

As the clock ticked over the hour mark, things were getting a little stale at the Etihad. City were leading and in control,but were running out of ideas to find a second goal. The atmosphere had been understandably subdued given this game was sandwiched in between two huge European glamour ties with Real Madrid.

Just like for the players, getting up for a Saturday 3pm kick-off with Luton is not quite the same, so the atmosphere took a little bit of time to get going. But when the stands felt the team needed support, they were there and there was a spontaneous round of chanting that rippled around the whole stadium just before the all-important second goal.

'We're the boys in Blue, coming after you' was the prompt that got the South Stand and then the rest of the Etihad singing, closely followed by 'Champions again, ole, ole.' As the noise increased, City won a couple of corners in succession, which led to Mateo Kovacic's carefully-controlled half-volley into the roof of the net. Guardiola was delighted, and as the players reset for the restart, he showed his appreciation to the crowd by encouraging more of the same.

Foden team sheet confusion

Foden and De Bruyne have swapped places at number 10 for the last four games. There had been some confusion pre-match with whispers of Foden starting before he was named on the bench.

When the teamsheets were handed out, Foden's name didn't appear at all, with De Bruyne's name in the starting XI and also on the bench. Did that mean Foden had dropped out of the starting line up like De Bruyne had in Spain? Was he even in the squad at all?

You can imagine the conspiracy theories that threatened to take hold ahead of the Madrid second leg, but Foden was among the first players out to warm up and fresh, correct, team sheets were soon distributed to ease concerns.