Manchester City have a defensive injury crisis, but it presents a massive opportunity for Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake to step up and become heroes.
23.04.2022 - 00:59 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Kyle Walker will miss Manchester City's Premier League clash with Watford through injury and could be unavailable for the Champions League semi-final first-leg versus Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Walker has missed the last two games, and Pep Guardiola has confirmed he won't recover in time to face Watford on Saturday. If he misses the Real Madrid fixture then City will have no fit right-backs as Joao Cancelo is suspended.
That could leave Aleks Zinchenko as the only fit full-back option, with covering players John Stones and Nathan Ake also facing a race to be fit to face Watford.
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"Walker will not be ready for tomorrow," Guardiola said on Friday, after initially indicating he might recover in time to feature.
"He’s much, much better. We’ll see on Tuesday if he has time. I have few, few thoughts about Madrid. Brighton and Watford were so important – tomorrow [Saturday] at 5pm, 7pm I will start to watch. I don’t have much time to watch them. So we will see.
"Today I didn’t decide the line-up – tomorrow morning the doctors will come to my office and say these guys are available and we’ll see. We can make the selection."
Guardiola used under-23 captain CJ Egan-Riley at right-back for the second-leg of the last-16 clash with Sporting when City had a 5-0 lead as Walker was suspended, but a semi-final with Real Madrid is a different proposition all together. When asked about his options within the squad, he even suggested an attacker may have to play in defence.
"I’m sad to leave four or five on the bench who don’t play much – I don’t want to be eight, nine, 10," he said.
"That’s why the academy important to provide extra depth, with the quality, they can
Manchester City have a defensive injury crisis, but it presents a massive opportunity for Aymeric Laporte and Nathan Ake to step up and become heroes.
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Pep Guardiola says he will have to play at least one player out of position to solve his defensive problems in tomorrow night's Champions League semi-final clash with Real Madrid. The Manchester City boss will give John Stones and Kyle Walker until tomorrow morning to prove their fitness, with the suspension of Joao Cancelo meaning they could be left without any senior players who have played right back.
Oleks Zinchenko’s performance against Watford has partially solved Manchester City’s defensive crisis for the visit of Real Madrid on Tuesday. But Pep Guardiola still faces a major problem at right back — and suggested Saturday’s headline-grabbing hero Gabriel Jesus could be the man to solve it.
Pep Guardiola says he could re-think his preference of working with a small squad, with Manchester City stretched by injury at the business end of the season. Problems for John Stones, Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake, plus Joao Cancelo’s suspension means the Blues could be down to just three fit defenders for the visit of Real Madrid on Tuesday.
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