Manchester City’s injury list worsens ahead of Newcastle and Real Madrid clashes with new problem in defence | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City injury problems have gotten worse after Tuesday night with the club facing a new issue in their rearguard in an important period for the club.

The Premier League champions succumbed to a disappointing defeat in the first-leg of their last-16 play-off clash with Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, despite leading the game 2-1 heading into the final moments.

Goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham would flip the game on its head giving Manchester City plenty of work to do in the Spanish capital next week, and with an increasingly depleted squad list due to new injury problems.

Jack Grealish was the first player to be forced out of the action early on in the first-half of Tuesday night’s defeat in east Manchester, appearing to sustain a groin problem just moments after playing an integral role in City’s opening goal.

It was the England international who lobbed a ball into the chest of Josko Gvardiol in-behind the entire Real Madrid defence, with the ball subsequently landing at the feet of Erling Haaland to cooly slot beyond Thibaut Courtois.

Matters would get even worse in the second-half however, with Pep Guardiola forced into a change at the half-time interval as Manuel Akanji was replaced by Rico Lewis for the second 45 minutes with a muscular injury of his own.

The club will now be sweating on the full extent of Manuel Akanji’s latest injury setback in a troublesome campaign for the centre-back, although the early indications from some sources are that the injury could be a worst-case scenario for him.

That would likely open up further opportunities for Abdukodir Khusanov to start in defence, while Matheus Nunes and Rico Lewis could yet be called up more often for the right-back role in matches.

The latest injury blow to Akanji comes at a crucial time for Manchester City as they not only face a winner-takes-all meeting with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu next week, but a run of huge Premier League fixtures.

Newcastle United and Liverpool visit the Etihad Stadium in successive game-weeks in the English top-flight, while there is also visits away to Tottenham and Nottingham Forest to come across Premier League scheduling.