Manchester City sustain another defensive injury blow inside 10 minutes against Real Madrid | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City’s injury concerns have got worse, this time inside the opening 10 minutes of their clash against Real Madrid on Wednesday night.

The reigning Premier League champions crashed out of Europe’s premier club competition at the first hurdle beyond the league phase, as Los Blancos made light work of Guardiola’s side at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

Kylian Mbappe constructed a stellar hat-trick performance either side of the half-time interval to make it four goals for the Frenchman across 180 minutes against Manchester City, who conceded six times to the La Liga leaders across the last two weeks.

The night itself got off to a disappointing start when Pep Guardiola’s confirmed starting line-up and proceedings during the warm-ups revealed that Erling Haaland would play no part in the contest, owing to his knee problem sustained against Newcastle last weekend.

As such, Omar Marmoush would be handed the opportunity to lead the line for Manchester City, but found little to no joy in receiving service from his teammates, on an evening when Real Madrid’s Raul Asencio and Antonio Rudiger had answers for every attempt.

And matters only got worse inside the opening 10 minutes when John Stones was forced off the field with an injury to only add further disappointment to a hugely difficult season on a personal note for the Manchester City defender.

Nathan Ake was thrust into the action in a minor defensive reshuffle for Manchester City, but left Abdukodir Khusanov and Josko Gvardiol as the full-back choices for the remainder of the contest.

Pep Guardiola is likely to provide an update on John Stones’ injury severity when he returns to media duties on Friday afternoon ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League clash with Liverpool on Sunday.