UCL: Guardiola Confirms Manchester City Faces Injury Setback Prior to Real Madrid Showdown

Manchester City’s manager, Pep Guardiola, explained that he substituted Josko Gvardiol at halftime during their 4-2 victory against Crystal Palace due to an injury the player sustained.

Gvardiol, who started the match at Selhurst Park, was replaced by Manuel Akanji for the second half. This injury casts doubt on the Croatian defender’s availability for their upcoming Champions League fixture against Real Madrid next Tuesday.

“We will assess the availability of our players as Josko [Gvardiol] encountered a minor issue. We’ll see how it unfolds. Moving forward, we were fortunate to have time to recuperate after the Aston Villa match and now we aim to deliver a strong performance against Real Madrid,” Guardiola stated post-match.