Guardiola left surprised by Sane’s rapid return
LEROY SANE could make a dramatic return to action when Manchester City resume their Champions League campaign in Basel tonight.
The runaway Premier League leaders will go into the first leg of the last-16 tie in Switzerland full of confidence, with captain Vincent Kompany believing the club are now ready to win the competition.
Winger Sane was initially ruled out for up to seven weeks when he suffered ankle ligament damage in City’s FA Cup victory at Cardiff on January 28.
But the German has made a rapid recovery and proved his fitness to travel with the squad yesterday morning.
Manager Pep Guardiola said: “I’m surprised. He has worked a lot, but I didn’t expect with a young guy how professional he was.
“He is not in perfect condition, but he is with us. He wants to help us. That is good news. He and the physios did a good job.”
Tottenham Hotspur’s manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed Toby Alderweireld will not face Juventus tonight as he believes the defender is not yet fit enough for a crunch Champions League tie.
Pochettino told Alderweireld he would miss the match in Turin during a conversation that lasted longer than two hours.
He said that to go up against a team like Juventus, every player needed to be at “200 per cent” fitness.
Alderweireld played 90 minutes against Newport in the FA Cup last week, having returned from a 14-week absence due to a hamstring tear.
The Belgian declared after the match he felt “very good”, but was not included in the squad against Arsenal on Saturday and did not join yesterday’s travelling party to Italy either.
“He is 28 and it was a massive injury that we need to take care and be cautious with because we cannot put his career at risk,” Pochettino said.
“To play this type of game you need to be 200 per cent. Competing is not the same as training and that’s why we are caring about him with our plan.”
Tottenham are still to persuade Alderweireld to extend his current contract, which expires in the summer of 2019, but Pochettino says this latest absence is down to nothing other than physical factors.