John Stones and Kyle Walker were both unable to train with the Manchester City squad today (Monday) ahead of their Champions League semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, virtually ruling both of them out of the game at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow (Tuesday) night. It means Pep Guardiola will be forced to use a makeshift right back against the Spanish giants.
With Joao Cancelo suspended, the Blues have no senior player who have played the role, and manager Guardiola said in today's press conference that he was "sure" he would have to utilise a player out of position to solve the problem.
That is likely to mean one of his stand-in left backs — Oleks Zinchenko or Nathan Ake — will be asked to do the job even though it means pitting them against Real danger man Vinicius Junior. Walker has not trained since he twisted his ankle in the goalless second leg of the quarter-final away to Atletico Madrid and was forced to limp off, while Stones has not been with the squad since last week's game against Brighton.
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Guardiola said at lunchtime: "We have a training session today and see how the players are. Tonight, tomorrow, we decide the lineup. I wait for the training session to see how they feel. I'm sure players will play in positions they aren't used but they will do their best."
Asked specifically about Stones and Walker, he said: "They are doubts, they didn't train for the last week to ten days and John since Brighton. We'll see how they feel, we'll speak to them tomorrow and then make the decision."
That leaves the option of using Stones open — but it seems extremely unlikely when he has been unable to train. The issue should ease for the second leg, as Cancelo's suspension is only for one match, and Stones is expected to be fit.
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