Hoping against hope, Manchester City will return to mid-week action for the UEFA Champions League league phase. The Sky Blues will travel to Portugal as they will be facing Sporting CP for their Matchday 4 at Estadio Jose Alvalade on Tuesday night. With just hours until the kick-off, we take a look at some of the injury updates concerning Pep Guardiola’s stars.

It’s already being suggested that the road ahead will be tough for the 2023 champions. City enters this match after a surprising 2-1 defeat to Bournemouth, followed by another 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur, ending their EFL Cup run in the round of 16. They’ll be hoping to recapture the form they showed in their previous Champions League group stage encounter, where they delivered a 5-0 rout over Sparta Prague.

Currently sitting third in their UCL group with 7 points, the Sky Blues find themselves in a position that’s both promising and precarious. With City keeping their fingers crossed to avoid a third consecutive defeat in the upcoming UCL fixture, let’s take a look at which big names won’t be available at Guardiola’s disposal.

Manchester City injury news ahead of Sporting CP face-off

John Stones

Unfortunately, he is the first name on the injury list that won’t be available to face the Liga Portugal side. The English international played the whole game against Tottenham Hotspur but didn’t even make the bench for the previous clash against Bournemouth due to an apparent foot injury. Pep Guardiola himself isn’t sure if the center-back will be available for the UCL match during the press conference. “John – I don’t know if he’ll be back for the next two games,” he said, making Stones’ return date unclear.

Ruben Dias

The second biggest defensive blow that Guardiola is set to face is Ruben Dias, who would be restricted to travel to his own home country. Regarding his star center-back injury, the Spaniard said, “Ruben’s injury is muscular and will be out until the international break.” This means that fans can expect Dias back around late November when City will be facing Tottenham.

Jack Grealish

The English winger picked up an unlucky knock during the training session before Man City’s previous UEFA Champions League clash vs Sparta Prague. This has forced Grealish to miss the following fixtures across all competitions since then. In fact, his return date is similar to Ruben Dias and fans can expect him later this month after the international break as well.

Kevin De Bruyne

The Belgian maestro had been one of the major missing chess pieces until he finally made a return to the bench during the defeat to Cherries. However, Guardiola still didn’t decide to give the midfielder any minutes. It would be interesting to see if he gets a start against Ruben Amorim’s side but we reckon De Bruyne will mostly come off the bench.

Now, the rest are expected to be available at Guardiola’s disposal. Be that as it may, only Stones, Dias, and Grealish are expected to remain sidelined, joining Rodri (ACL) and Oscar Bobb (leg) in the recuperation room.