Pep Guardiola reveals that Manchester City have just 14 senior players for Champions League second leg

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has issued a squad update ahead of the second leg of their clash with Sporting Lisbon, and it is not good news for the Citizens.

Fortunately, they are almost guaranteed to go through, currently holding a 5-0 advantage from the away leg, but the injury issues are continuing to mount. In addition to Kyle Walker’s suspension, Joao Cancelo is set to miss the game through illness, as the Manchester City boss revealed that just 14 senior players are available to take on the Portuguese side.

‘We don’t have many, many players – we have just 14 available’, Guardiola told BBC Sport ‘We have a few problems – suspension for Kyle [Walker], Joao [Cancelo] can’t play.’

Additionally, both Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake are still injured, with the Spaniard claiming that Ake cannot be risked given that Dias is also set to be sidelined for around 6 weeks.

‘Tomorrow is too risky and with Ruben Dias out for a long time (up to six weeks) we cannot risk another central defender. I know we have five days before playing Crystal Palace. After this game we have some recovery days but we cannot lose Nathan. It’s too risky, the doctor said to me.’

“We have just three defenders, so we have to adapt and use the second team and see what we can do. We will train today and see what we will do.”

Guardiola left fuming with Kyle Walker

Of course, in the case of Kyle Walker, it was an avoidable absence, with the English defender getting sent off against RB Leipzig in the group stages.

And Guardiola was quick to direct his fury at the veteran defender, and even revealed that he disagreed with the decision to appeal the decision, an appeal that ultimately failed.

‘Kyle Walker deserved the three, he did a stupid thing’, Guardiola said.

‘I am still so angry with him. He knows it. He’s so important for us. See how he played against Manchester United? Against Leipzig he did this action when we had qualified, he deserved it.’

‘The club appealed, I do not agree. Hopefully he will learn for the future.’

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Premier League table

#	Team	MP	D	P
1	Manchester City	28	50	69
2	Liverpool FC	27	51	63
3	Chelsea FC	26	35	53
4	Arsenal FC	25	12	48
5	Manchester United	28	7	47
6	West Ham United	28	11	45
7	Tottenham Hotspur	26	8	45
8	Wolverhampton Wanderers	27	1	40
9	Southampton FC	27	-7	35
10	Crystal Palace	28	1	33
11	Aston Villa	26	0	33
12	Leicester City	25	-3	33
13	Brighton & Hove Albion	27	-6	33
14	Newcastle United	26	-16	28
15	Brentford FC	28	-15	27
16	Leeds United	27	-32	23
17	Everton FC	25	-18	22
18	Burnley FC	26	-14	21
19	Watford FC	27	-23	19
20	Norwich City	27	-42	17

Player	Team	Goals
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	19
Mane, Sadio	Liverpool FC	12
Jota, Diogo	Liverpool FC	12
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur	11
Mahrez, Riyad	Manchester City	10
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur	10
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City	10
Sterling, Raheem	Manchester City	10
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	9
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	9
Ronaldo, Cristiano	Manchester United	9
De Bruyne, Kevin	Manchester City	9
Toney, Ivan	Brentford FC	9
Smith-Rowe, Emile	Arsenal FC	9
Raphinha	Leeds United	9
Zaha, Wilfried	Crystal Palace	9
Bowen, Jarrod	West Ham United	8
Antonio, Michail	West Ham United	8
Saka, Bukayo	Arsenal FC	8
Gallagher, Conor	Crystal Palace	8

Player	Team	Red Cards	Yellow Cards
Neves, Ruben	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0	9
Salisu, Mohammed	Southampton FC	0	8
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	0	7
Cash, Matty	Aston Villa	0	8
Brownhill, Josh	Burnley FC	0	8
Mctominay, Scott	Manchester United	0	8
Maguire, Harry	Manchester United	0	7
Firpo, Junior	Leeds United	0	8
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	0	7
Gallagher, Conor	Crystal Palace	0	7
Rice, Declan	West Ham United	0	7
Moreno, Rodrigo	Leeds United	0	7
Westwood, Ashley	Burnley FC	0	7
Tarkowski, James	Burnley FC	0	7
Shaw, Luke	Manchester United	0	7
Mings, Tyrone	Aston Villa	0	7
Romeu, Oriol	Southampton FC	0	7
Duffy, Shane	Brighton & Hove Albion	0	7
Bissouma, Yves	Brighton & Hove Albion	0	7
Williams, Brandon	Norwich City	0	7

Player	Team	Assists
Alexander-Arnold, Trent	Liverpool FC	11
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	10
Pogba, Paul	Manchester United	9
Robertson, Andy	Liverpool FC	9
Bowen, Jarrod	West Ham United	8
Lacazette, Alexandre	Arsenal FC	7
Jesus, Gabriel	Manchester City	7
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	6
Antonio, Michail	West Ham United	6
Mount, Mason	Chelsea FC	6
James, Reece	Chelsea FC	6
Barnes, Harvey	Leicester City	6
Cancelo, Joao	Manchester City	6
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur	5
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	5
Saka, Bukayo	Arsenal FC	5
Henderson, Jordan	Liverpool FC	5
Kovacic, Mateo	Chelsea FC	5
Olise, Michael	Crystal Palace	5
Femenia, Kiko	Watford FC	5