Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that defensive trio John Stones, Ruben Dias, and Kyle Walker will all miss the remainder of the season with injury, leaving City with only three fit senior defenders.
Dias limped off during the first-half of Sunday afternoon’s 5-0 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad, where City returned to the summit of the Premier League table. They now hold a three point lead over Liverpool.
The 24-year-old Portuguese international previously missed seven weeks of the campaign with a hamstring injury.
Stones and Walker both developed issues during the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, which ended in a 6-5 aggregate loss on Wednesday evening.
Walker limped off at the end of that game, while Stones was injured in the first leg during the previous week.
Speaking after Sunday’s win, Guardiola said: “Ruben, Kyle and John are out until the end of the season,” he said following our victory over Newcastle.
“Next pre-season maybe they will be ready. (Ruben’s problem is) muscular. Not the same position, but hamstring.”
Confirming that City had 15 senior players available for next weekend, Guardiola said he was “not worried”, and joked that Phil Foden might be asked to play centre-back.
Reserve centre-back Nathan Ake has an ankle issue, and was on the bench against Newcastle. This means that Fernandinho, who is leaving the club at the end of the season, may be asked to fill in. “Otherwise, it’s CJ (Egan-Riley) or (Luke) Mbete,” confirmed Guardiola.
City’s remaining fit defenders are Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko, and Joao Cancelo.
Guardiola courted controversy after the win by claiming that “everybody in this country supports Liverpool”.
He subsequently explained that though Liverpool “has an incredible history in Europe”, they have a less illustrious Premier League history, having won only one title in 30 years.
(Photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
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May 09, 2022 at 03:13AM
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Manchester City left with three fit senior defenders after Stones, Walker, and Dias ruled out for season - The Athletic
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