Pep Guardiola has confirmed he dropped Kevin De Bruyne from the Manchester City starting line-up for Tuesday's loss to Tottenham for tactical reasons. De Bruyne only came off the bench in the 89th minute at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and was unable to inspire a late comeback as City fell to a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final. City boss Guardiola insists his side played well, though, having explained he left out De Bruyne to make the core of his side more defensively sound. "I decided to play with two holding midfielders in that position to be a bit more solid," he told a news conference. "I decided for the other ones. I know it is tough for him [De Bruyne]." He said of the result: "Now we know what we have to do. I have the feeling the game was quite good. We controlled them and arrived with some quality situations. "In the high competitions, at a high level, you have to live these situations. Now we have another ...