Yahoo Sports Pep provides Kovacic and Foden update ahead of Juventus clash
Pep Guardiola has delivered a fitness and availability update on both Mateo Kovacic and Phil Foden ahead of Wednesday’s latest UEFA Champions League clash away to Juventus.
Croatian international Kovacic has been absent since the last international break through injury while Foden has missed City’s last two games through illness
However, the pair both returned to training on Tuesday morning and were also part of the City squad that flew out to Turn on Tuesday afternoon.
But, addressing the media at his pre-match press conference, when asked about their fitness the boss urged caution about the duo’s match readiness.
“I don't think so. Maybe a few minutes for Kova but I don't think so,” Pep said.
“But it's nice to have them here to the team, to the training sessions and to travel with us.”
The boss was also asked about the latest news regarding central defensive duo Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji who are both currently sidelined with injury.
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“I don’t know. Nathan will be longer than Manu but I don’t know [how long],” the City boss added.
“It’s the same [challenge] like we had in the last month, nothing changes.”
City will step out at the Allianz Stadium on eight points from our first five games lying in 18th place in the 36 team table – with Juve also on the same points with two wins, two draws and a loss in 20th.
But when asked about his thoughts on the state of the league table and if he had a specific points target in mind with only the top eight sides going straight into the knockout stages, the boss said he was simply focused on the immediate task in hand.
“Right now, I’m not thinking [about the league table]. We are not in the position when you look at last seven or eight games - you can’t talk about winning games plural,” Guardiola stressed.
“We didn’t win against Feyenoord especially and the first game against Inter we tried to win the game but we drew.
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“With these four points we dropped we now have two difficult games in Turin and Paris and then Brugge at home.
“We have to take points to qualify and we will see.”
Juventus v City app coverage
Our official app allows you to follow all of the action from Italy in one place.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, whilst our Matchday Live show will begin at 18:45 (UK).
City legend Shaun Wright-Phillips and tennis star Liam Broady are the special guests on the latest Matchday Live show, offering their expert insight before the game, at half-time and in greater detail after the final whistle.
During the game you can listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Kit Symons, while our text commentary continues.
Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.
Highlights from the match, as well as a full-match replay [available on CITY+] will also be available.
