Manchester City defenders Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake are already running the risk of missing the trip to Spain to face Real Madrid and now, Josko Gvardiol is also a doubt.
Defensive duo Walker and Ake missed Manchester City’s win against Crystal Palace at the weekend and their manager has put question marks on their availability on Tuesday.
Now, to make matters worse, Josko Gvardiol was forced off at half time and even though Pep claimed that the substitution was a precaution, the defender is major a doubt for the first leg.
“The reason for Josko coming off was because he felt a niggle and we didn’t want to risk any injuries”, the MCFC manager said[h/t Manchester Evening News].
“We’ll see which players we have available as Josko has a little problem. We move on to the next one.”
Thankfully, the injury to Josko Gvardiol injury is not serious and the Croatian international has been included in the 21-man travelling squad for Manchester City but Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker are going to miss the first leg.
It’s still unclear if Gvardiol is fully fit or not but because he is included in the squad, there’s a big chance that he will start against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. If the 22-year-old is available and cleared to start then he will be part of a three-man central defence alongside Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji.
Pep Guardiola has enough fit players to name a strong starting XI on Tuesday night but with Nathan Ake and Walker ruled out, the Man City manager has very limited backups. John Stones and Rico Lewis are the only two backups defenders available and if Pep wants to use Stones as a CDM then that number will go down to one.
Akanji and Dias have the legs to play the full 90 minutes but if there’s an unexpected injury then the Man City manager will be doomed. Josko Gvardiol was taken off against Palace as a precaution so he’s avoided any serious damage but if City can wrap things up early against Real Madrid then Guardiola will take off the defender and bring Lewis on in his place.
