Stones ruled out as City face defence headache

John Stones has been ruled out of Manchester City’s Champions League clash withdinamo Zagreb. The England defender did not train with the squad yesterday and was not included to travel to Croatia later in the day.

Stones, 25, limped out of City’s derby defeat by Manchester United in the Premier League on Saturday. It is not yet known how long he will be out. His absence means City will have to change both centre-backs for the clash at the Maksimir Stadium as Brazilian Fernandinho is suspended.

Youngsters Eric Garcia and Taylor Harwoodbellis have joined Nicolas Otamendi, now City’s only fit senior central defender, in the squad.

City have been hampered by central defensive problems since former captain Vincent Kompany left the club at the end of last season.

Aymeric Laporte has been out since August with a knee injury and may not return until February, while Stones has already missed a month of action earlier in the campaign.

Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho, pictured, hopes tonight’s Champions League clash against Bayern Munich will allow his players to show him what they are capable of.

The Portuguese has overseen four wins and a defeat since taking charge at Spurs but still wants to get to know his players better.

“It is an important game because we represent Tottenham. That gives us always a sense of responsibility,” he said ahead of the match in Germany.

“One thing that I am not having is time. When I say time, I mean to know all my players well, and this is a great opportunity for some of them to play, to show what they are capable of. ”

Mourinho has started learning how to speak German and when questioned on why, he revealed it was purely for the joy of learning. He said: “The motivation is to learn. I would love to be here and answer in German. It was not related to jobs as you think.”