Kevin De Bruyne is returning to the medical room after Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola revealed so. The Belgian midfielder had little issue with his fitness during the big match against Liverpool last week. Due to this injury, De Bruyne is likely to miss the FA Cup fixture against Newcastle United this weekend.
It is reported that the injury required a special treatment as De Bruyne is not included in Belgium’s latest call up for international break. Apart from De Bruyne, Guardiola also provided updates regarding Jack Grealish and Ederson.
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Kevin De Bruyne had problem since Anfield
“Kevin’s not ready,” Guardiola said according to the club’s official statement. “He already played in Anfield with some problems. But he’s getting better.Â
“He’s not ready for tomorrow but we spoke with the manager from Belgium, Domenico Tedesco, and he decide I’m grateful because he didn’t feel good and he could recover for the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile, Ederson had a knock after challenging Darwin Nunez in the Liverpool game. He then was substituted by Stefan Ortega afterwards. Similar to De Bruyne, the Brazilian goalkeeper will also miss the international agenda with his national team.
“Eddie is getting better, hopefully he’ll be ready after the international break. Tomorrow for sure [he is out]. He’ll have two weeks off then, he’ll recover, we’ll see how he feels. Hopefully as soon as possible.”
Regarding Grealish, Guardiola said: “Yeah [Jack is getting better. “He’ll be selected in the group [for this weekend].”
Pep Guardiola optimistic of a Manchester City win
About facing Newcastle, Guardiola refuses to take The Magpies lightly. Owing to both teams latest “tight” results according to the Catalan-born manager, he expected the fans to give the exact same atmosphere like it was playing Manchester United.
“This season and previous ones since Eddie Howe was there and the people from Saudi Arabia took over, it’s always been tight games and we don’t expect anything different,” Guardiola said. “We have an incredible chance at home with our people.Â
“We need in home games the support of our fans like we had against United, I don’t remember that environment for a long time. Tomorrow isn’t an exception. We need it to reach the semi-final at Wembley again.”
Guardiola has faced Eddie Howe for 15 times, winning 14 of them including the time when Howe was still in charge for Bournemouth. Guardiola’s only loss to Howe came in the fourth round of Carabao Cup last September with Newcastle beating City one goal to nil.