Manchester City Faces Injury Setbacks as November International Break Begins
Manchester City’s November international break has arrived, following a challenging club spell marked by a series of injuries and fitness concerns.
Pep Guardiola and his team head into this break after a tough run of four consecutive losses across the Carabao Cup, Premier League, and UEFA Champions League. This difficult stretch for the Premier League champions has been further complicated by mounting injuries, adding to the longer-term issues of Rodri and Oscar Bobb earlier in the season.
Ruben Dias and John Stones continue to be sidelined with a muscular issue and foot problem, respectively, and both were left out of their national team squads. Jack Grealish, however, recently returned to training and has been selected to represent England.
It remains uncertain how many other City players may opt to use the international break to rest and recover. Still, two players have already withdrawn from national duties, citing fitness concerns for the coming two weeks.
On Monday, the Portuguese Football Federation confirmed that Matheus Nunes would miss representing Portugal, as he was deemed “not medically fit” by doctors. Meanwhile, Manuel Akanji also pulled out from national action due to fitness issues after sitting out City’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion.
After that game, Pep Guardiola spoke about Akanji’s condition, saying, “Manu said [on Friday], ‘I felt so bad in the training session and I could not move properly,’ and against that team [Brighton] I prefer fresh people.”
The Swiss national team confirmed Akanji’s withdrawal on Monday, announcing he would be one of four players missing out on this international break due to an adductor problem. He joins Denis Zakaria, Dan Ndoye, and Pascal Loretz in being unavailable for Switzerland.
With injuries affecting key players, City will be hoping the break allows them time to recover and regroup ahead of their next fixture.
