April 16, (THEWILL) – Pep Guardiola has stated that City will wait to make a final judgement on Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker’s availability for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
Both players were injured in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg match against Atletico Madrid.
But, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday ahead of City’s encounter against Liverpool at Wembley, Pep Guardiola said the duo would be tested tomorrow to see if they would be eligible for selection.
When asked if Zack Steffen will start in goal, the manager said he would make a decision after assessing the condition of the entire squad following a gruelling few games.
“They didn’t train today. We will see tomorrow. Apparently, it will be so close after what happened on Wednesday but we will see,” Guardiola said of De Bruyne and Walker.
“Kyle had a big twist. He is getting better. We will see in the next hours, the next days. In football these kinds of things happen. We will adapt, adjust and go from here.
“Kevin had stitches after he had contact – it’s not a muscular injury.“I am going to think about it (Zack Steffen starting). I still have to speak tonight with the doctors and physios about the condition of many players.
“Tonight, tomorrow morning I will decide but, of course, in the FA Cup I normally play Zack and that is an option tomorrow.”
City have already played Atletico Madrid twice and Liverpool in the last 11 days, so Saturday’s game comes in the midst of a hectic, demanding schedule.
But the manager insisted that he and his players would make the best of the circumstances, with City ecstatic to still be in contention for three major trophies and hungry for victory.
“It is what it is. It would look like I am looking for an excuse. I would prefer more days with more than 16 players that we have right now,” the Spanish manager added..
“I have said many times about the schedule, but it makes no sense because it is not going to change. We are incredibly happy to be here. We are going to try and perform well against Liverpool which is not easy. We will try to do our game.
“Always I have the feeling we arrive one and half months to the end of the season and we are in two semi-finals in the FA Cup and Champions League. We are top of the Premier League and in two semis. It is so great.”
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
