Man City head to Wembley to take on Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday but Pep Guardiola will be without two of his most important players.
The Etihad outfit are set to miss the services of Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker after both of them had picked up injuries during Man City’s midweek game against Atletico Madrid.
De Bruyne was the first one to pick up a knock as he was taken off in the 65th minute. As soon he was sat on the bench, the medical team was seen putting an ice pack around his right ankle.
Just a few minutes after this blow, Kyle Walker suffered an ankle injury while going in for a tackle and he is also not looking good at the moment.
The reports are suggesting that Pep Guardiola is drawing up his tactics without these two players and these two setbacks might turn out to be a major differential on Saturday.
Kevin de Bruyne and Kyle Walker are out of contention for the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool after suffering injuries against Atletico last night! 🤕 pic.twitter.com/nk7DFBP5Ot
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) April 14, 2022
Man City injury: Who will replace De Bruyne and Walker?
Kyle Walker’s injury means Joao Cancelo will probably come into the right-hand side of defence with Zinchenko operating down the left but the manager can also opt for Nathan Ake.
In recent weeks, Ake has been playing as the backup right-back and even when Walker was injured in midweek, it was Nathan Ake who came on to replace him.
As far as Kevin De Bruyne is concerned, his absence will be a major blow because he is the main playmaker for Man City.
With the Belgian ruled out, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernando Silva will both get to start in midfield with Rodri taking up his usual defensive midfielder’s role. On paper, the likes of Gundogan and Silva are more than apt at playing against Liverpool but with De Bruyne missing, Man City will definitely lose out on a lot of creative spark.
UPDATE:
The Man City manager has revealed in his press conference that the pair did not train on Friday which means they are more or less guaranteed absentees for Saturday’s game at Wembley.
“They (Walker and De Bruyne) didn’t train today. We will see tomorrow. Apparently, it will be so close after what happened on Wednesday but we will see,” Guardiola said.
“Kyle had a big twist. He is getting better. We will see in the next hours, the next days. In football, these kinds of things happen. We will adapt, adjust and go from here.
“Kevin had stitches after he had contact – it’s not a muscular injury.”
