Pep Guardiola welcomed back six more players to first team training on Wednesday as Manchester City prepare to face Liverpool in the Carabao Cup fourth round tomorrow.
The fixture list could hardly have thrown up a more tantalising fixture for both sides to restart domestic football after the mid-season World Cup interval, but it is the Premier League champions who face the greatest squad challenge, having had no fewer than 16 players involved in the tournament in Qatar.
Group stage exits for Belgium and Germany saw Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan return to the Etihad earlier than expected and Nathan Ake, Rodrigo and Manuel Akanji also rejoined the group at the start of the week, but now Guardiola has integrated more of his internationals back into the squad, raising questions around what sort of team he might put out against the Reds tomorrow.
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Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Guardiola said: “Step by step they come back. Today six players come back and it’s the first time. We are happy they are back and generally they played really well. They played a unique experience. If they come back as good as possible they will try to live another experience in four years’ time in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“The players at the World Cup are in better condition than the ones that were here. Sergio Gomez, Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez, Cole Palmer - they are missing a little bit.
“They competed every day and we had holidays. That’s why it was so important to maintain the rhythm. We had one month off.”
One player the Sky Blues will definitely be without is forward Julian Alverez, who is still celebrating Argentina's incredible World Cup triumph in Buenos Aires.
Speaking about the 22-year-old, Guardiola added: “We are incredibly happy for him. Congratulations to him, and to Nico Otamendi, Lionel Messi for Argentina. Well deserved champion. Julian is with us and we are delighted because he played a lot. We have a world champion in our team.
“He will have a week, maybe 10 days off because (there were) many games and tension. I don’t know the exact date he will come back.”
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