Manchester City are expected to name a similar line-up on Saturday to the one which began last week’s FA Cup final win over Manchester United.
Pep Guardiola’s side face another final this weekend when they face Inter Milan in the Champions League, a competition the Blues are aiming to win for the first time. City are heavy favourites against the team that finished third in Serie A this season and made it to the final after a relatively comfortable run of fixtures against Porto, Benfica and AC Milan. As for City, they eliminated RB Leipzig and then European powerhouses Bayern Munich and Real Madrid en route to the Istanbul final.
But the Blues had a minor injury scare in midweek as Kyle Walker missed Tuesday’s open training session. The defender was replaced during injury-time in the FA Cup final and Pep Guardiola revealed he is suffering with a back injury. “He has a disturbance in his back,” said the Catalan. “Yesterday he was not good and today he was a little bit better. We didn’t want to take a risk and we will see what happens in the next days.”
Speaking in a separate interview, Walker laughed off any suggestions of a serious injury and joked he was ‘just getting old’, before explaining the decision to miss training was just preventive. “I’m completely fine, it’s just an extra day of recovery,” the right-back told Sky Sports. “I’ve played a lot of minutes over the last number of weeks so the manager said, ‘just stay inside and come Saturday you will be raring to go’.”
Walker is City’s only minor injury concern ahead of the Champions League final and Guardiola is expected to have a fully fit squad on Saturday. With that in mind, here’s how we think City will line up in Istanbul…
1. GK: Ederson
Stefan Ortega played in Saturday’s FA Cup final, but Guardiola has already confirmed Ederson will return against Inter.
2. RB: Kyle Walker
Should be fit to start in Turkey.
3. CB: Ruben Dias
Guardiola’s first choice at the heart of defence.
4. CB: John Stones
Will push into midfield when City are in possession.