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Kevin De Bruyne has been left out of Manchester City’s squad for their Champions League round of 16 tie at RB Leipzig due to illness.
The Belgian was joined by Aymeric Laporte and John Stones among those who were not able to make the trip to Germany. The 22 man travelling party includes Maximo Perrone, who joined from Argentine side Velez Sarsfield in January. De Bruyne played 88 minutes of City’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest, a match Laporte completed in full. Stones is currently recovering from a thigh injury.
Guardiola confirmed that both De Bruyne and Laporte had not travelled due to illness. He added that he was not sure whether either player would be available for Saturday’s trip to Bournemouth. Though City are not exactly short of quality options in attacking midfield and could use Julian Alvarez alongside Erling Haaland, De Bruyne’s loss will be keenly felt after an impressive run of performances, most notably a goal and assist in his side’s 3-1 win over Arsenal.
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The absence of Laporte and Stones also provides City with something of a defensive headache though he does have three fit center backs to call on in Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake. The latter could come into consideration at left back should Guardiola opt not to continue with Bernardo Silva playing out of position.
Meanwhile City goalkeeper Ederson has labelled winning the Champions League as his side’s “main objective” even as they battle for Premier League supremacy with Arsenal. Guardiola’s side have won every major domestic honor in recent years but European glory still eludes the beaten finalists in 2021, who were knocked out by Real Madrid in dramatic fashion in last season’s semifinals.
“That’s our main objective, the main objective of the club,” said Ederson. “We know it’s a very difficult tournament. A lot can happen in 90 minutes. In football, the things you least expect surprise you the most, but we’re prepared.
“We’ve been trying and will carry on trying. We haven’t won it yet; we reached the final [in 2021], and a few semi-finals, and we didn’t come out of it with a good result. But I think this year, we’re more than capable of getting to the final and challenging for the title. Of course, football doesn’t always go the way we want it to, but we’re going to try again. We’re coming after it.”
