Champions League group stage kicks off
Man City’s Stones ruled out of Shakhtar clash • PSG without Neymar, Mbappe, Cavani for Real duel
Manchester City’s defensive woes deepened ahead of its opening Champions League group stage clash away to Shakhtar Donetsk as center-back John Stones was ruled out with a muscle injury.
City manager Pep Guardiola broke the news during his pre-match conference.
“He made a pass and was injured,” Guardiola told reporters, confirming the injury occurred during Tuesday’s training session. “No problems, Fernandinho can deal with it and he will do well.
“We will create something, it is what it is.”
Fresh from a shock 3-2 Premier League defeat by promoted Norwich City and with French center-back Aymeric Laporte out injured until January or February, the news that Stones could now miss five weeks gives Guardiola a headache.
“Football is not how you handle good situations, but how you handle bad ones,” he said. “We won seven titles and no one gave us anything, we did it ourselves.
“I am ready for the challenge. I like this situation.”
Despite City beating Shakhtar 3-0 away last season, the Ukrainians are dangerous opponents, especially on their own turf, and Guardiola will likely have a patchedup defense with Nicolas Otamendi City’s only available established center-back.
“Big challenge. So for me as a manager it’s an incredible challenge, just one central defender in Nico,” Guardiola said.
“But I believe a lot, people don’t know the spirit and resolve to solve this problem. It’s happened, but what we are not going to do is complain.”
Fernandinho, naturally a defensive midfielder, is expected to partner Otamendi in the heart of City’s defense.
Midfielder Phil Foden is also out of Wednesday’s match through illness.
“He has a virus problem with the stomach. He will miss this game and maybe the next,” Guardiola said.
City became the first English team to beat Shakhtar away last season, but Guardiola is wary of the Ukrainians, having lost to them the previous season, also in the Champions League.
“They are incredible on the counter attack and playing short,” he said. “Hopefully we can play in good rhythm. The first game in Champions League is important.
“Every time I play against Shakhtar the way they play is very similar. It’s really tough, especially the first one, that team was incredibly good. Always it is tough.”
Meanwhile, forwards Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani have been ruled out for Paris Saint-Germain’s opening match against Real Madrid on Wednesday, the French Ligue 1 champions said.
Mbappe picked up a hamstring injury and was forced off against Toulouse last month and has not featured since for PSG, while Cavani is out with a hip problem.
Thomas Tuchel’s side will also be without Neymar, with the Brazilian forward serving a two-match Champions League ban for insulting match officials following PSG’s defeat by Manchester United in the round-of-16 last season.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced Neymar’s suspension from three to two UEFA games on Tuesday.
PSG and the Brazilian had appealed against the three-game ban imposed by European governing body UEFA in June, and CAS partially upheld the appeal.
Neymar labeled the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) system “a disgrace” after PSG was eliminated from by Manchester United after the Premier League side was awarded a decisive last-gasp penalty in a 3-1 win at the Parc des Princes.
Neymar will be eligible to play in the Champions League in the third round of matches, when PSG travels to Club Brugge on October 22.
The 27-year-old made his PSG season debut last Saturday after his failed transfer to Barcelona, scoring the only goal in stoppage time against Racing Strasbourg in Ligue 1.
Mbappe, Neymar and Cavani netted 11 of PSG’s 20 goals in last season’s Champions League campaign, and the trio will be crucial again in 2019-20 as the club looks to go deep in Europe’s elite competition.
Elsewhere, Bayern Munich wants to kick off its Champions League campaign against Red Star Belgrade with a win on Wednesday as it sets its sights on at least the quarterfinals, coach Niko Kovac said at his news conference on Tuesday.
The Bavarians, who have won the last seven league titles in Germany, last lifted Europe’s top club trophy in 2013.
Last season they suffered an unusually early exit, eliminated by eventual winners Liverpool in the round-of-16.
“We have a new season, and we have new luck so our first aim is to go past the group stage and then as a second aim to go further than last season,” said Kovac.
Bayern has not enjoyed a dominant start to its season, losing the German Super Cup to Borussia Dortmund and lying in fourth place in the Bundesliga after four matches, two points off the top.
Kovac, in his second season at Bayern, said everyone was “100 percent fit and ready” apart from fullback David Alaba, who was injured during warm-up ahead of the 1-1 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday and is expected to be out for three weeks.
“We have analyzed Red Star. We know that at home in Belgrade they are a different team with different potential with such amazing crowd support.”
Group B also includes Olympiacos and Tottenham Hotspur, who play each other on Wednesday night.
“Tomorrow we have the task of playing our game. In Leipzig we showed we can do it,” he said. (Reuters)