Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City, revealed that central defender John Stones for “two to three months” after completing the Champions League on Wednesday exit on Wednesday.
In the middle of the week, Stones only lasted eight minutes with a 3-1 defeat from City against Real Madrid, although this was enough time to watch his central defender Ruben dias about his own laces, while Kylian Mbappe scored the first of his three goals at night .
In the absence of her unique but injured central defender, City was good to flee with a two-goal scope. When Guardiola complained after the game: “They were the better team. You have to accept reality.”
The Catalan coach must now find acceptance for the continued misfortune of the city in terms of fitness problems.
“He is injured, difficult, in the next few hours/days we will know whether he has to be operated on or not,” said Guardiola in his press conference before visiting Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday. The city manager confirmed that it was a long-term injury “like Manuel Akanji”, which was excluded with an adductor problem at the beginning of this month for “eight to ten weeks”.
Guardiola was also asked for Erling Haaland, who watched the bank with Real Madrid throughout the week. “I don’t know yet,” he twitched when he thought about the availability of his striker for the crunch games of this weekend. “We will know tomorrow, but I don’t know. It is better to have Erling on the field, but of course we don’t have it, but of course we are stronger with Erling.”
In addition to stones, Akanji and potentially Haaland, the city remain without long-term absent Oscar Bobb and the elephant in the room for every injury update Rodri. The reigning balloon d’Or winner recently gave a positive assessment of his recovery of an ACL tear in September.
“I feel very good,” the Spaniard told City website. “Everything is fine in my head. I don’t feel unstable in my knee. I have to get the strength in the quads and everything. That is the most important thing.”
It remains to be seen whether Rodri will play a role in the rest of the City Premier League season, but the Talismani midfielder has previously announced that he will start a return to the FIFA Club World Championship in June.