Manchester City face an anxious wait to see if they will go to the Bernabeu without three-quarters of their back four from the first leg of their Champions League tie against Real Madrid.
Pep Guardiola believes City will only be given a one per cent chance of going through to the last 16 after losing at 3-2 at home and knows he will be without Manuel Akanji for up to 10 weeks with a thigh injury
Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake, who were the central-defensive partnership in the first leg, both sat out Saturday’s 4-0 win over Newcastle but Guardiola thinks it is possible they could be available for the second leg on Wednesday.
“I hope so,” he said. “[Saturday], they were not good, Ruben said: ‘I’m not ready to play 90 minutes, maybe 15-20’. But having Vitor [Reis] on the bench, I wouldn’t risk [it], and Nathan have sick, and problems after the game against Madrid, so both were not ready to play.”
John Stones, who began the first leg in midfield, could drop into defence but Guardiola needs to find someone to play right-back, where Akanji started and Rico Lewis finished in Real’s 3-2 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
He added: “The margin to win in Bernabeu in that position, everybody knows that if you ask before the game, the percentage to go through, I don’t know, we arrive at 1 percent, it will be minimal, but as much as you have a chance, we will try, that’s for sure.”
Guardiola was heartened by City’s display in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Newcastle and thinks if they had played that well all season, they would not have been in such a low position in the Champions League group.
“This season, the reality, we have been miles, miles away,” he added. “If you tell me, if you perform like [Saturday], we finished 22 in the Champions League, of course not, we would have finished higher.
“But the reality, we have been really, really poor in performance in the results this season, and just for one game, that today, played really good, and it’s not going to change the opinion, the reality, the team, it is right now, and we are still not good in terms of day by day.
“But of course, it’s better to travel to Madrid with this result than imagining defeat in the last minutes, so at the end, okay, the chance is, minor, because the result was not good, five minutes ago, with 2-1, it will be different, but with 2-3, the chances is, but as much as you have a chance, we are going to take it, and we’ll see what happens.”
