24-man squad: Four absentees from Manchester City with three names ineligible for Club Brugge clash in UEFA Champions League | OneFootball

A 24-man Manchester City squad trained in front of broadcasters at the City Football Academy on Tuesday afternoon ahead of their meeting with Club Brugge this week.

Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players will be well-aware of the situation they find themselves in within the Champions League’s league phase, knowing that a win is necessary to secure themselves a place in the last-16 play-offs of the competition.

The reigning Premier League champions will no doubt take confidence from the manner in which they bounced back from an early goal conceded on Saturday evening to defeat Chelsea 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium, moving up to fourth in the division.

Matters in European outings have been far from as good, losing all of their last three away trips in the competition and throwing away a three-goal lead with 15 minutes remaining to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord in December.

Manchester City’s fitness situation is improving and squad options have been strengthened through three new signings this month, but all of those additions are ineligible for this week’s tie as they cannot be registered for the league phase of the competition.

And as Manchester City finalise their training ground preparations for the meeting with Club Brugge this week, here is the full list of players spotted on the City Football Academy pitches during the opening 15 minutes of the session.

24-man Manchester City squad in training

Goalkeepers: Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Scott Carson.

Defenders: Rico Lewis, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Vitor Reis, Max Alleyne, Abdukodir Khusanov, Josko Gvardiol.

Midfielders: Jacob Wright, Nico O’Reilly, Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gundogan, Matheus Nunes, Bernardo Silva, James McAtee, Phil Foden, Kevin De Bruyne.

Forwards: Oscar Bobb, Omar Marmoush, Savinho, Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish.

With the squad in training confirmed, that also reveals that four first-team stars continue to be absent from the Manchester City squad namely Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake from defence, and Rodri from the midfield ranks.

Jeremy Doku also remains unavailable as he recovers from a problem sustained around Manchester City’s 0-6 win over Ipswich Town two weeks ago, with Pep Guardiola recently confirming that the Belgian would be sidelined for “a while”.

One notable spot from the session was an appearance from Manchester City icon Fernandinho, who was stood pitchside alongside sporting director Txiki Begiristain, watching the team train with Rodri present, too.