Manchester City face the prospect of two key Juventus stars returning to action against them in this week’s European clash in Turin, it is being reported in Italy.
The Premier League champions travel to Turin on Wednesday night for a must-win encounter with the Serie A giants, who remain unbeaten at this juncture in the season in the Italian top-flight.
Manchester City are desperate to get their hopes of automatic qualification for the last-16 stage of Europe’s premier club competition back on track, after a heavy defeat to Sporting CP and a calamitous 3-3 draw against Feyenoord shifted them further down the league rankings.
Wednesday’s meeting at the Allianz Stadium in Turin will see 17th-placed City take on 19th-placed Juventus, with both teams tied on eight points and hoping for a further three that could move them into the automatic qualification places should results go their way.
And as Manchester City battle to get key defensive options back and available for selection in a huge week for the club, Juventus have themselves been boosted by returning stars ahead of the contest this week.
According to the information of Italian outlet TuttoMercatoWeb, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, midfielder Douglas Luiz returned to Juventus training with the first-team group on Sunday and as such is expected to return to the squad to face Manchester City this week.
It is further pointed out that there is also hope within the Serie A giants that Weston McKennie could put himself back in contention for Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League tie following a period of injury.
As for Manchester City, and ahead of possible confirmation from Pep Guardiola in his pre-match press conference, two key names were spotted returning to training on Tuesday morning ahead of the flight to Turin later in the day.
Mateo Kovacic completed a month-long recovery process to return to training this week having sustained an injury problem during the final international break of 2024 with Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.
Phil Foden has also missed City’s last two matches against Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace through bronchitis, and returned to duties at the City Football Academy on Tuesday morning in a week that also sees the club take on rivals Manchester United on Sunday.