Pep Guardiola was asked about the availability of his team ahead of the clash against Juventus.Pep Guardiola was asked about the availability of his team ahead of the clash against Juventus.
Pep Guardiola was asked about the availability of his team ahead of the clash against Juventus. | Getty Images
The Manchester City boss was speaking ahead of the Champions League clash against Juventus on Wednesday night.
Pep Guardiola has said he does not expect Mateo Kovacic and Phil Foden to return to the team for Manchester City’s clash against Juventus.
The pair were spotted in training on Tuesday ahead of the Champions League trip to Turin and were named in the travelling squad, leading many to presume they will be fit to face Juventus.
However, asked ahead of the game if Kovacic and Foden will be available, Guardiola replied: “I don't think so. Maybe a few minutes for Kova, but I don't think so. But it's nice to have them back in the team and in training sessions, and of course travel with us.”
Kovacic has missed the last five games through injury while Foden is recovering from a bout of bronchitis. Meanwhile, the City boss also said he does not know when Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake will be back with the defenders once again left out of the squad due to ongoing niggle. “Nathan will be longer than Manu,” was the Catalan’s only insight.
It means City have just four fit senior defenders to choose from against Juve. While Guardiola admitted the lack of numbers will be an issue going forward, he called on those available to ‘do better’ amid a run of just one win in nine games.
“We can do better and we have to find something inside to get the results, but I am not the right person to say wrong words about the team. But of course we have to do it well over the next few weeks.
“The team is good,” he added. “Of course we have injuries and rotating to give a rest is a problem. The problem is that we had the most important injuries in the same position, the central defenders.
“The team is good but we have punished ourselves for many games; we made mistakes and have to avoid it. Life is like this and we have to do better with the players that we have. At the end, as a group we miss a lot of things that didn’t help us to get the results.”
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