Manuel Pellegrini defended his decision to leave captain Vincent Kompany out of the Manchester City team for their 2-1 win over Sevilla.
The Belgian, who came on as a 90th-minute substitute, has been named on the bench for the club's last two games after Pellegrini was unhappy he played for Belgium against Israel in Euro 2016 qualifying.
City have not kept a clean sheet without Kompany in their team this season, but Pellegrini insisted that his other centre-backs have impressed, even though Sevilla caused City problems.
He said: "I think that Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala are playing very well, they played well against Bournemouth and Newcastle, we won 5-1 and 6-1.
"Vincent is coming back from a long injury after a month out so it was a risk to give him this responsibility in an important game. Every game and every week I try to pick the team that I think in this moment are ready or better to play."
Pellegrini refused to say if he will select Kompany for Sunday's Manchester derby, adding: "We'll have to think about the derby and see how the players recover. We have a lot of different things to think about."
The City manager seemed to be telling Yaya Toure not to give Kompany the captain's armband when he came on, but he said it was just a misunderstanding.
"The confusion was that Yaya was not the substitute, it was [Kevin] De Bruyne not Yaya. That was the confusion," he said.
De Bruyne scored a stoppage-time winner for City and Pellegrini praised the £54 million Belgian.
"We bought Kevin [because] we thought he was a very creative player, he has goals in him, because this team always tries to play attractive and offensive football and for that you need good players," he said. "In all senses he was the perfect player to arrive to our team."
De Bruyne excelled as a makeshift striker after Wilfried Bony went off, but Pellegrini is still considering starting Bony up front against Manchester United.
"I think that all the games are different," he said. "Bony is very important for us in the way he scored the first goal, but I think you must see what's happening in moments of the game."
Pellegrini hailed his team's character, concentration and intensity in Europe and said they'll take plenty away from the late win vs. Sevilla.
"When you win in the last minute it gives you more trust in what you are doing."