How every single Manchester City player performed on international duty during the November break | OneFootball

After a relatively strong start to the 2024/2025 season, Manchester City have since stumbled in recent weeks.

The Sky Blues were eliminated from the Carabao Cup at the fourth round stage, whilst the UEFA Champions League has since brought about a defeat to Sporting CP in Lisbon, and a shock 3-3 home draw to Feyenoord.

As for the Premier League, Pep Guardiola’s squad were defeated by both Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion, whilst the first game after the November pause for international action brought a 0-4 home loss to Tottenham.

Injuries to several first-team players have been costly, and City staff were nervous as several senior players embarked on international duty for the last time in 2024. Fortunately, the majority of those who traveled to compete did not earn any new injuries.

Manchester City had several players partake in the UEFA Nations League, while participating in the 2024 World Cup qualifiers in South America.

November marked the final matchday in the Nations League campaign in Europe, and in League A’s Group 1, Bernardo Silva and Portugal took on Poland and Croatia, earning a resounding victory against the Poles to secure their place as winner of Group 1.

Portugal then earned a hard-fought draw against Croatia, while those results will see now Roberto Martinez’s players and Manchester City’s contingent in that squad advance into the Nations League’s quarter-finals in March 2025.

Elsewhere in League A’s Group 1, City’s Mateo Kovačić and Joško Gvardiol played in Croatia’s matches against Scotland and Portugal. The Croatians earned a surprising loss to the Scots, whilst also seeing a player sent off in the contest.

The Croats then fought for a draw against Portugal, and those results were just enough to ensure that they would remain in League A for the future Nations League campaign in 2026/2027 as Kovacic returned with an injury that would rule him out for up to a month.

Given City’s current injury woes, the club did not have any other senior players compete for their national teams in League A. These players, however, still watched on as their countries competed in their respective groups.

Outside of League A, several members of Manchester City’s English contingent competed in League B. In Group 2, full-back duo Kyle Walker and Rico Lewis participated in England’s matches.

The English defeated Greece and Ireland, meaning that Lee Carsley would close out his term as interim head coach by finishing top of his group in League B, and securing promotion back to League A during the 2026/2027 Nations League campaign.

Elsewhere in League B, Erling Haaland competed with Norway in Group 3, defeating the Slovenia and Kazakhstan, and scoring yet another remarkable hat-trick against the latter to further extend his stay as the nation’s all-time leading top-scorer.

Those results also meant that Norway finished at the top of their group, and they will be promoted to League A during the next Nations League campaign.

Overall, Manchester City’s European contingent did quite well. Most of the squad that played for European national teams will all find themselves in League A, and these players will fight to win the UEFA Nations League trophy during the 2026/2027 campaign.

In addition, the results mean that several of City’s European players will also find themselves and their countries in a good position ahead of the UEFA qualification draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Due to the strong performances of these countries during this period, many of them will be favoured for good qualification draws. This may help them earn a place in football’s most prestigious competition in two years.

Outside of Europe, Ederson and Savinho competed with Brazil during South America’s qualification process for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Both played in Brazil’s two matches during the break against Venezuela and Uruguay, where both matches resulted in a draw. Having now played 12 of their 18 qualification matches, Brazil find themselves in fifth place in the table.

The top six teams in South America automatically qualify for the competition, and the Brazilians will need to enhance performances at the start of the new year to ensure that they qualify automatically. Otherwise, they could find themselves in danger and could even miss the competition.

As for the rest of the Manchester City senior squad, Stefan Ortega, Rúben Dias, John Stones, Phil Foden, and Matheus Nunes were not selected by their national teams for international duty.

Kevin De Bruyne, Rodri, Jérémy Doku, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Aké, Jack Grealish, and Oscar Bobb did not travel due to injury, while Scott Carson and İlkay Gündoğan have already retired from international football.