Atletico vs Man City: Pep Guardiola gives encouraging injury update on Ruben Dias & Cole Palmer

Pep Guardiola has confirmed Ruben Dias will travel as part of the Manchester City squad which will fly to Madrid on Tuesday, while he also gave a positive update on Cole Palmer.

The Sky Blues face Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, and lead 1-0 from the previous meeting.

City looked set to be without Dias for the clash, with the Portuguese centre-back out for over a month with a hamstring problem.

The defender picked up the problem in an FA Cup win over Peterborough United at the start of the month, and has not played since.

However, Dias was pictured training on Tuesday, and in his pre-match press conference Guardiola was asked about the 24-year-old’s fitness.

“He travels with us and the rest, all of them are fit,” the City boss responded.

Quizzed on whether Dias is able to start, Guardiola expanded: “From the beginning, no. During the game, I don’t know.

“One training session today [after] six weeks off, so is a little bit premature, but the fact he is back is incredible in this tight schedule we have until the end of the season. Everyone will be important, Ruben as well.

There was also encouraging news regarding Palmer, who Guardiola said recently might require surgery to deal with an ongoing injury that has stopped the youngster playing a first-team game since January.

Like Dias, Palmer was pictured in training, but Guardiola is less certain whether the midfielder will be fit to travel with the squad to Madrid.

“It’s much better but I don’t think he will travel,” he said. “Yesterday, he feels better. Today he’s training. We will see. If he feels fit, maybe he will travel.

“If he feels better we will try to avoid it [surgery],” Guardiola added. “We try to avoid surgery. Since Peterborough, he could not play one minute more because he was injured. The doctors came in the last days and said we are going to try and avoid it.”