Manchester City are boosted by the return of Kyle Walker for tonight’s Champions League showdown with Atletico Madrid.
Walker is finally back from suspension, having served a three-match European ban in the aftermath of his red card against RB Leipzig in the group stage that left manager Pep Guardiola furious.
Defensive colleague Ruben Dias, meanwhile, has been out injured for six weeks and travelled with his teammates to Madrid, and is named among the substitutes.
“He did one training session after six weeks off,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. “It is premature, but the fact he is back with the schedule we have is good. Everyone will be important and Ruben is.”
Kevin De Bruyne scored the winner at the Etihad Stadium to give the visitors a 1-0 aggregate lead in Madrid, before the Premier League leaders secured a 2-2 draw in the meeting with Liverpool on Sunday.
Guardiola has plenty of options on his bench to freshen up his line-up amid a busy run of fixtures, with Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez both returning to the starting line-up. Phil Foden is also in from the off, after his impressive cameo off the bench in the first leg.
City face Liverpool again in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley on Saturday while Real Madrid await in the semi-finals should his team overcome the Spanish champions.
Starting XI: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Cancelo, Rodrigo, Gundogan, Bernardo, Mahrez, De Bruyne, Foden
Subs: Steffen, Carson, Dias, Ake, Sterling, Grealish, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Delap, Edozie, McAtee, Lavia
