Two new absentees revealed as 24-man Manchester City squad train ahead of Sparta Prague meeting in Champions League | OneFootball

A 24-man Manchester City squad was spotted in training on Tuesday afternoon as Pep Guardiola finalised preparations for their UEFA Champions League return this week.

Manchester City will be hoping to further maintain their unbeaten start to the new season, and move one step closer to an automatic qualification place for the round of 16 in this season’s Champions League.

After a 0-0 draw on matchday one against Inter Milan, Pep Guardiola and his players followed up that result with a 0-4 victory over Slovan Bratislava in Slovakia, with goals from Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland, and James McAtee.

The weekend saw City return to action with a dramatic 1-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, as John Stones’ last-minute header completed a comeback at Molineux and claimed all three points, retaining a place as the only remaining unbeaten side in the division.

Among those out on the training surface on Tuesday afternoon was Jacob Wright, who has returned to Manchester City first-team duties following injury sustained with England during the international break.

Kevin De Bruyne also trained as normal with the rest of the group ahead of the meeting with Sparta Prague, despite Pep Guardiola having already ruled the Belgian out of action due to a lack of match fitness.

Several youth team and Elite Development Squad stars including Farid Alfa-Ruprecht – who claimed the Premier League 2’s Player of the Month award for September – made up the numbers at the City Football Academy, too.

24-man Manchester City squad spotted in training ahead of Sparta Prague (H)

Goalkeepers: Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Scott Carson

Defenders: Rico Lewis, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Josko Gvardiol, Nathan Ake, Seb Naylor

Midfielders: Jacob Wright, Nico O’Reilly, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, James McAtee

Forwards: Farid Alfa-Ruprecht, Savinho, Jaden Heskey, Erling Haaland, Emilio Lawrence

Among the notable absentees are Kyle Walker, who is ruled out of Wednesday night’s European clash with a knee injury he sustained whilst on international duty with England, as revealed by Pep Guardiola.

Josh Wilson-Esbrand also remains absent with little to no clarity around his fitness.

In midfield and both Rodri and Oscar Bobb remain sidelined with their longer-term injury recovery processes, with Guardiola stating that the latter could make a return in January or February.

In the forward line, there was one fresh absentee as Jeremy Doku appeared to be missing from the open section of Manchester City training session on Tuesday afternoon, with no clarity around his issue.

Jack Grealish also appeared to be absent from the open section of Manchester City training.