Man City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that Jack Grealish is “not available” for their midweek clash against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League.
Grealish missed City’s weekend victory over Norwich. Guardiola stated that he had suffered a recurrence of a shin injury he suffered while at Aston Villa.
City travel to face the Portuguese outfit in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Tuesday. The manager has confirmed that Grealish will not be involved.
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Guardiola said: “He is better but for tomorrow he is not available, along with Cole Palmer and Gabriel (Jesus).”
Forward Jesus has not featured since suffering a knock while on international duty last month while youngster Palmer is still troubled by a foot injury.
Man City are bidding to go one better than last season’s runners-up finish and win the Champions League for the first time this year.
Guardiola said: “To do better than last season is not easy but we are excited and happy to be in this competition at this stage again.
“I know how important the Champions League is – we cannot deny it – but we take every Premier League game seriously and you saw how we behaved against Norwich.
“That’s the best proof that we do it every single game, not just in the Premier League.”
“For his confidence it will be massive, the first goal is brilliant, when Raheem executes without thinking he is excellent,” he said.
“I am so happy for him because strikers need to score for confidence for the next games. The second goal was a good cross, Ruben (Dias) was brilliant and was there but in general he (Sterling) was active and made good touches.
“He had a fantastic game, especially after the goal he was confident and more aggressive, direct and scored a fantastic goal.
“He has been an incredibly important player in all these seasons, with all the goals and assists and when he has confidence he’s a really, really important player.”
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