Bernardo Silva & John Stones return after absence
By Hidayah Ali
Manchester City are going into an exciting but tough Champions League encounter against Leipzig later today, and Pep Guardiola has confirmed the involvement of Bernardo Silva and John Stones in the City squad.
After losing to games on the bounce, first to Newcastle and then Wolves, Man City will give their all in the attempt to get that importance-filled win over RB Leipzig, who currently sit above them on the table, but both teams have three points to their name anyhow, so overall it isn’t a dangerous situation for City.
But if we know this Manchester City team and their drive to come out of games as the achieving side, they’ll surely not want a repeat of the last two results.
Pep Guardiola and Ruben Dias spoke ahead of this anticipated tie, in which Pep gave a very positive update regarding John Stones and Bernardo Silva.
” They will feel better; Bernardo feels better than John. Both traveled, but we will decide tomorrow ( today ). I am happy they are back! ”
Fans will be glad to see the pair back in the squad, and while their actual involvement in tonight’s 90 minutes isn’t clear, it shows they are ready for comebacks, even if that’s against Arsenal over the weekend.
Pep also confirmed that Rodri, who has been suspended for three games after the Nottingham Forest game, will play against Leipzig.
Next, Ruben Dias took over and discussed various topics, one of them being about the selection of Dias being gon of the five captains for this season.
” It’s special; it’s an honour for me to be one of the captains of the team.” Dias has been chosen alongside: Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Rodri, and Bernardo.
He after then moved onto the club’s motivation to be triumphant this season, ” We want to win more. More beautiful than winning it ( UCL ) is winning it twice and more beautiful than winning Premier League three years in a row, is winning it four in a row. The same goes for the FA Cup. Motivation couldn’t be higher.”
Not many can argue that isn’t the perfect mindset to have after crratin history the year before, and despite the slow start to this season, it’s those words that prove that City have more than what it takes to write their name on all four of the trphies still up for grabs ( including the FIFA Club World Cup ).
Official Squad for Leipzig
GKs: Ederon, Casron, Ortega Moreno.
DFs: Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Gvardiol, Akanji, Gomez, Lewis.
Ms: Rodri, Grealish, Doku, Kovacic, Bernardo, Nunes, Bobb, Phillips, Foden.
FWs: Haaland, Alvarez.
Full-time Prediction
Leipzig 1-2 Manchester City.
To read our full preview and predicted line-up for this game, you can click here for more or if you want to find out which fixtures City have coming up this month, you can find out here.