Ruben Dias will travel with Manchester City to face Atletico Madrid after recovering from his hamstring injury. Pep Guardiola welcomes back his centre-back into a squad that is now almost free from injury as they chase three trophies.
Dias, 24, has been sidelined for six weeks after picking up a problem in the FA Cup win over Peterborough at the beginning of March. He returned to training on Monday and also worked with the group on Tuesday morning in the Manchester rain.
Pep Guardiola said in his press conference before the game that Dias will not be fit to start against Atletico but is happy enough with his progress to include him in his plans. Cole Palmer could also travel after training on consecutive days, although a final decision will be taken on Tuesday afternoon.
Read more: Fernandinho reveals Man City exit this summer
After failing to keep a clean sheet in six group games, City managed two against Sporting and then one in the first leg of their quarter-final against Atletico to set them up to go through to the semi-final. Having built their run to the final last year on a mean defence, Guardiola knows the importance of keeping the ball away from their end.
"To win trophies you have to be solid," he said. "You have to defend well when we don't have the ball and try to defend well when we have the ball. We conceded one corner against Liverpool when there average is five, six or seven. But there are moments where we don't have the ball and there are set-pieces and plays that we have to defend.
"You cannot achieve things if you do not concede few. We are not an exceptional team in defence individually but altogether we run as a team and that makes us solid as a team. If we are not solid tomorrow, it will be difficult to get to the semi-finals."
Sign up to our City newsletter so you never miss an update from the Etihad Stadium this season.
