The two Man City players at risk of Champions League suspension if they’re booked v Real Madrid

Much of the build-up to the second leg of Manchester City’s Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid centred around the availability of two key defenders.

Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake both missed last week’s first leg in Madrid due to injury and, having returned to the bench at the weekend in the Premier League win over Luton Town, could be options to face the 14-time European champions on Wednesday.

The pair trained on Tuesday and Walker in particular could be key to City’s chances of stopping the lively Vinicius Junior.

But there’s every chance, should City progress to the last four of the competition, that it will include pre-match coverage surrounding the availability of two key defenders. Manuel Akanji and Ruben Dias are both one booking away from an automatic ban, which would carry over to the semi-final first leg.

Given City’s lack of defenders - Pep Guardiola’s squad includes just seven defensive options for high-profile games - missing two important players would leave the team in a difficult position.

As for Madrid, Daniel Carvajal, Eduardo Camavinga, Jude Bellingham and Vinicius are in a similar position for Madrid ahead of the quarter-final second leg and are a booking away from a suspension, while Aurelien Tchouameni is not available for the match at the Etihad after picking up a third Champions League yellow card of the season in Madrid last week.

The accumulation of yellow cards ends after the quarter-finals, meaning any bookings in the semi-finals cannot result in a player missing the final.