Chris Waddle has claimed that Manchester City are so much better when they have one specific player in the team.
The Manchester club’s latest game saw them draw 3-3 against Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals tie.
After this game, one pundit highlighted one player in Pep Guardiola’s ranks, who didn’t feature at the Santiago Bernabeu last night, that he feels makes a big difference in how the Blues play.
Waddle says one Man City player makes them so much better
Speaking on BBC 5 Live Sport after Tuesday’s draw, Waddle had this to say about the prospect of City having Kyle Walker back in the team to take on Carlo Ancelotti’s side for the second-leg tie next week.
He said: “I think Rodrygo or Vinicius Junior, whoever was to play out there, won’t like playing against Kyle Walker because they rely heavily on pace and he’s got more pace than them so they won’t like playing against him.
“I think the balance of the side when Kyle Walker plays, he’s a full-back, I know he can play centre-half, the team looks balanced instead of the centre-halves playing full-back. They do a job, don’t get me wrong, they’re alright at it, but Kyle Walker is the best right-back at the club. He’ll be coming back, I think he gives them much better balance.”
The right-back has been unavailable for City’s four previous game after he picked up an injury while in action for England during the previous international break.
Prior to that, Walker, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £175k-per-week, has featured in 38 games for the Blues across all competitions, starting all but one of them.
This highlights how important he is for the team.
Kyle Walker knows how to stop Real Madrid
Bearing in mind how the 33-year-old found himself on the end of some significant praise from Thierry Henry for the way he defended against Vinicius Junior during last season’s semi-final second leg clash at the Etihad Stadium, it’s easy to see why Waddle thinks potentially having him back for next week’s match against Real could be very important for the Blues.
Moving forward, everyone at City will undoubtedly be hoping that the defender is able to make a full recovery and play in next week’s crucial second-leg match against Real and help his side potentially make it to the next stage of the competition.