Although Manchester City and Liverpool are fighting for the Premier League title, and although Real Madrid have one more point to win la Liga, before the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, all four teams have invariably chosen a big rotation in the league.
With a draw with Espanyol, Real Madrid would have been enough to win the title four rounds in advance, but Carlo Ancelotti still made a big rotation of the starting lineup. Compared with the match against Manchester City, Ancelotti only retained three players, Courtois, Modric and Rodrigo.
Like Real Madrid, Villarreal also chose a large rotation, with Emery only letting Paulo Torres, Parejo and Chukwuze continue to start. In order to prepare for the match against Bayern, Emery even rotated all 11 starters against Biba.
For Manchester City and Liverpool, which are only 1 point apart in points, every game in the Premier League cannot be lost. However, Klopp and Guardiola chose to rotate.
Liverpool rotated slightly, but only allowed five players to continue to start, including Alisson, Van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Mane and Díaz. City had the smallest rotation, but Guardiola also took five players, Zinchenko, Stones, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Mahrez.
Although all four teams have made significant rotations, their performances have been quite good. Of these four teams, Manchester City and Real Madrid can win 4-0, while Liverpool also won 1-0 over Newcastle, which is enough to reflect the thickness of their squad.
After five consecutive la Liga wins, Real Madrid won the La Liga title four rounds earlier. City not only overtook Liverpool and returned to the top of the table again, but also set a series of records. First, City beat Leeds United home-and-away for the first time since the 1981-82 season. Secondly, for the first time since their 2–1 win on 5 September 2000, City have won against Z United on the road.
Third, City won their first three consecutive Premier League wins in 2022. Fourth, City continued their unbeaten run in nearly 16 Premier League away games. Fifth, for the first time in Manchester City's history, he kept a clean sheet on the road in five consecutive league games.
Liverpool have also set many records, first of all, Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 11 games against Newcastle. Second, Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 14 Premier League games. Third, in the last 20 Premier League away games, Liverpool scored on the spot. Fourth, in 11 away games in 2022, Liverpool remain unbeaten.
Villarreal became the only team to lose, losing 1-2 to Alaves. Of course, their squad thickness is also at the bottom of the four teams.
Despite a large rotation of squads, Real Madrid, Liverpool and Manchester City have all won easily, which is enough to reflect their strength and the thickness of their squads, and it is enough to explain why they can reach the final four of the Champions League.