Manchester City ended with at least two more injury issues than they started with against Real Madrid as Pep Guardiola weighs up more risks
Manuel Akanji was forced off at half time in Manchester City’s Champions League tie with Real Madrid
Manchester City cannot get away from their injury pain.
For 30 glorious minutes against Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola had been able to play the XI he wanted other than Rodri and that was enough to lead the Champions League winners. Then Jack Grealish picked up a problem and the attack had to shift, with Phil Foden coming on to the right and offering something different.
Then Manu Akanji got injured, and Real relentlessly targeted his replacement Rico Lewis in the second half. Then Nathan Ake could only manage 60 minutes and his last act was to play Kylian Mbappe onside for the equaliser.
We will never know what result City would have got had they been able to keep their starting XI on the pitch for as long as Guardiola wanted, but there is no question that they were weakened by the enforced changes. Once again, City just hadn’t been stable enough.
It has been the story of their season, with problems not just keeping players out of games but also forcing others to stay on the pitch when not fit and various changes to the backline to be made in the middle of matches. If you are looking for consistency, you will not find it there.
City must give it their all in Madrid next week, but have a tough Premier League encounter against a dangerous Newcastle side on Saturday. You can argue which is the bigger game, although the Blues will be determined not to go out with a whimper in Spain.
Guardiola will have a team in mind for the second leg against Madrid, and with that he will have to plan accordingly for Newcastle – but the best-laid plans have not gone so well this season. Last week’s trip to Leyton Orient showed the perils of giving players minutes to gel, as new signing Nico Gonzalez limped off in the 22nd minute and did not get on the pitch for their Champions League game.
What state Ake, Akanji, Grealish, Gonzalez and Jeremy Doku are in will determine how important they are to Guardiola’s plan for Real, and with that what happens to them against Newcastle. It will be a gamble to start any of them at less than full fitness though, and City have found to considerable cost this season that most of the risks they have taken with regard to players avoiding injury have not paid off.