Commanding at the top of the Champions League standings just below Aston Villa and Liverpool, the Manchester City will return to the pitch to sweep away the second disappointment in a row for Pep Guardiola and face it Sporting Lisbon on the European field. In tomorrow evening’s match at the ‘José Alvalade’ the Spanish coach of citizens However, he does not intend to use the card immediately Kevin De Bruyne.
Recovered a few days after weeks of absence, he returned to the squad in his last unsuccessful outing with Bournemouth. But Guardiola wants to be 100% sure before fielding the Belgian midfielder, who has felt he is feeling much better in recent days: “Kevin (Friday, ed.) started to feel better, but a month and a half has passed, and the match (against Bournemouth, ed.) was very challenging,” the coach said in a press conference today.
“Maybe in the last 10 or 15 minutes we could have done it, but especially with Kevin I try to take care of him. When he came back after five months of injury last season, he finished well and started well again after his return.” But the KDB factor at Cityespecially in Rodri’s absence, is the key to everything and Guardiola knows it: “Of course we need him, and he will come back. We will try to bring him back gradually, at the right time and in the right place to do it.”
Guardiola was also asked about how he was progressing Kyle Walker after the super start and the stop for the knee problem while he was on international duty with England: “Since he came back this season after the European Championships, he has participated in four or five training sessions. So he can play without training thanks to his physical condition, it’s incredible. But obviously he has to get back into the routine of playing matches and focus on what we need to do. I really appreciate the effort he made to come back.”
However, specifying the current situation: “In the last 16 days since he played his last match with the English national team, he arrived, he didn’t train once except yesterday for six minutes, in the box. Six minutes. Then today he played 90 minutes against Semenyo and all fast players, it’s not easy. He’s our captain, and we need him to get back to his best and, step by step, we hope he can achieve that.”
The updated Champions League standings
1. Aston Villa 9 (dr +6)
2. Liverpool 9 (dr +5)
3. Manchester City 7 (dr +9)
4. Monaco 7 (dr +5)
5. Brest 7 (dr +5)
6. Leverkusen 7 (dr +5)
7. Inter 7 (dr +5)
8. Sporting 7 (dr +4)
9. Arsenal 7 (dr +3)
10. Barcelona 6 (dr +7)
11. Dortmund 6 (dr +6)
12. Real Madrid 6 (dr +4)
13. Benfica 6 (dr +3)
14. Juventus 6 (dr +2)
15. Lille 6 (right +1)
16. Feyenoord 6 (dr -1)
17. Atalanta 5 (dr +3)
18. Stuttgart 4 (dr -1)
19. PSG 4 (dr -1)
20. Celtic 4 (dr -2)
21. Sparta Prague 4 (dr -2)
22. Dinamo Zagreb 4 (dr -5)
23. Bayern Munich 3 (dr +3)
24. Girona 3 (dr 0)
25. Milan 3 (dr -1)
26. Club Brugge 3 (dr -4)
27. Atletico Madrid 3 (dr -5)
28. PSV 2 (dr -2)
29. Bologna 1 (dr -4)
30. Shakhtar 1 (dr -4)
31. RB Leipzig 0 (dr -3)
32. Sturm Graz 0 (dr -4)
33. Stella Rossa 0 (dr -9)
34. Salzburg 0 (dr -9)
35. Young Boys 0 (dr -9)
36. Slovan Bratislava 0 (dr -10)