News Images

A key Manchester City defensive trio all fail to train ahead of Real Madrid clash

Originally posted on Esteemed Kompany | By Adam Marrett | Last updated 4/8/24

A key Manchester City defensive trio has failed to train at Manchester City’s open training session earlier today. The European champions have today held an open training session before they travel to Madrid to take on Real Madrid. Tomorrow night’s game at the Bernabeu will be the first leg of the highly anticipated UEFA Champions League quarter-final between the past two winners of the competition.

Manchester Evening News reporter Joe Bray has reported via his official X account that Jokso Gvardiol, Nathan Ake, and Kyle Walker were all absent from training this morning. Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake missed Manchester City’s 4-2 win over Crystal Palace last weekend due to injury. Josko Gvardiol was substituted at half-time of the game after suffering a ‘niggle’. There was however some positive news on the condition of Kyle Walker following Joe Bray’s update.

BBC reporter Simon Stone followed Bray’s update with a positive update on Kyle Walker. Stone reported via his official X account that the Manchester City captain trained on his own ahead of tomorrow night’s match.

Kyle Walker did come out for a solo session as the media were leaving @ManCity training earlier.

— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) April 8, 2024

Manchester City’s defensive stocks have taken a hit in recent weeks. Kyle Walker picked up a hamstring injury while on international duty with England. Nathan Ake picked up a calf issue during City’s nil-all draw with Arsenal at the Etihad over a week ago. The Dutch international has missed City’s past two games due to the injury.

A further update on the status of the injured trio is expected when Pep Guardiola faces the media later today. At this stage it would appear unlikely that Ake, Walker and Gvardiol will feature in tomorrow night’s game against Real Madrid.

This article first appeared on Esteemed Kompany and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: