Key Man City duo not spotted in training ahead of RB Leipzig Champions League clash

Aymeric Laporte and Kevin De Bruyne were not spotted in Manchester City’s open training session on Tuesday ahead of their Champions League clash with RB Leipzig.

The Blues will fly to Germany on Tuesday where they will conduct their pre-match media duties ahead of Wednesday’s game. But prior to departing, City held a session which was open to TV cameras at their training base.

As reported by Sky Sports’ Ben Ransom, both Laporte and De Bruyne weren’t part of the group that trained, casting doubt over their involvement in the last-16 first leg encounter. The duo played at the weekend as City dropped points in the title race when they drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest. Laporte played the full 90 minutes in the East Midlands while De Bruyne was replaced in the latter stages.

Should they be unavailable for the clash in Germany, Pep Guardiola will have to reshuffle his starting XI. An absence for Laporte would leave the City manager with Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake as options at the heart of defence. John Stones remains injured and also didn’t take part in Tuesday’s session.

Meanwhile, if De Bruyne misses out, Guardiola could push Bernardo Silva into a more advanced midfield role and select him alongside Rodri and Ilkay Gundogan in the middle. Another option is to start Julian Alvarez just behind Erling Haaland.

Elsewhere, the Manchester Evening News report that youngsters Nico O’Reilly, Shea Charles and Finley Burns trained with the senior team at City’s training base on Tuesday.