Pep Guardiola press conference: Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias and Nico Gonzalez updates ahead of Galatasaray clash | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has provided an update on his side’s fitness ahead of Wednesday night’s monumental UEFA Champions League clash with Galatasaray.

City slipped to 11th in the group-stage rankings after suffering a 3-1 loss to Bodo/Glimt in the Arctic Circle last week, prompting Guardiola to make five changes to his starting XI against Wolves at the weekend as goals from Omar Marmoush and Antoine Semenyo helped City to their first Premier League win of 2026.

The Blues remain in the running for silverware on four fronts but have struggled to generate any momentum whatsoever so far this month, having won just thrice in their last eight games in all competitions.

Matheus Nunes returned to the lineup against Wolves on Saturday and supplied a brilliant assist to Marmoush five minutes in, though City are still coping with a long list of absentees elsewhere in defence.

Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and John Stones have remained out of action in several weeks, with Nico Gonzalez also missing recent games as Rodri stepped up match fitness, though many would argue the Ballon d’Or winner – who has endured a difficult 15 months with injury – is due a rest.

Savinho was also missing from Manchester City’s matchday squad against Wolves but the win over the Premier League’s bottom side saw Jeremy Doku make an appearance off the bench, with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden also called on in the second-half after being given a rest.

Haaland and Foden are expected to return to the starting XI against Galatasaray, with Antoine Semenyo also in line to start after scoring his third goal in Manchester City colours at the weekend, underscoring the Ghanian’s brilliant start to life under Guardiola since he left Bournemouth for an initial £62.5 million earlier this month.

Speaking in a press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Guardiola started with an update on Haaland’s fitness after the Norwegian was rested against Wolves. “I didn’t have dinner with him last night so I don’t know. We’ll see,” the Manchester City manager said.

Guardiola remained coy on whether Gonzalez would be in line to feature against Galatasaray, with Manchester City training on Friday afternoon and a decision to be made on the 23-year-old’s fitness after the same.

“Today is the last training (session before the game), we’ll assess today,” Guardiola said on Gonzalez.

The Manchester City manager was not asked specifically about Dias in the press conference but Wednesday night’s game with Galatasaray is likely to come too soon for the Portugal international, who is targeting a return to action in the Premier League against Liverpool next weekend at the Etihad Stadium.

Nothing less than three points will do for Guardiola and co at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night if they are to avoid the play-off stage of the competition – and amid a testing fixture schedule, the less games City are playing, the better.