Ahead of the reunion with Real Madrid, Manchester City have a compulsory task to complete – and replace an irreplaceable player. Meanwhile, Stefan Ortega Moreno has been given clarity as to whether he is the new number 1
After the game is before the game – and usually not much time to recover when you’re dancing at several weddings and April begins. Manchester City’s schedule is also full to bursting, unlike the batteries of some of the treble winners’ key players.
After the 3-3 draw in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at Real Madrid on Tuesday, stabilizer and all-time great Rodri openly called for a break, which he is likely to get at the weekend. “If you have a player who doesn’t want to play, then he won’t play,” Man City coach Pep Guardiola responded on Friday, just over 24 hours before the home league game against promoted and basement side Luton Town on Saturday afternoon.
Rodri’s remarkable stats
The Catalan would also “very much like to rest central defenders ahead of the second leg against the Whites on Wednesday, but we have no replacements”. Guardiola was not yet able to say how the defenders Kyle Walker and Nathan Aké, who had to rest recently, will fare alongside Phil Foden, who was substituted in Madrid with a knock. The 53-year-old will not decide on their fitness until Saturday.
“We have big, big problems,” said Guardiola, who did not even make specific reference to one or two of Rodri’s remarkable statistics. The 27-year-old Spaniard, who was unusually error-prone against Crystal Palace (4-1), has not been beaten in a City shirt in 66 competitive matches and has missed three of the 32 league games so far in this Premier League season, which has been tight at the top of the table, due to suspension: the Sky Blues have lost them all
At least in the position between the posts, the defending champions and their coach have at most one luxury problem: Will the recovered regular keeper Ederson play – or his replacement Stefan Ortega Moreno, who was even allowed to play at the Bernabeu recently? The former Bielefeld player, whose future is currently unclear, has been flirting with a regular place in Manchester for some time, but has now been given a shot across the bows.
“Ederson is the first choice”, Guardiola answered the goalkeeper question that has been simmering for days with clear words for the first time, revealing that the Brazilian was already fit to play against Real on Tuesday. Which he will be against Luton on Saturday. Which at least does not definitively guarantee that Ederson will actually play
