Pep Guardiola has now revealed whether Manchester City defender Kyle Walker will return from injury to face Real Madrid on Wednesday.
A recent report claimed that Walker was unlikely to be fit to start in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
Especially in the Champions League, the £50 million man has been one of City’s best players.
Perhaps Real Madrid’s wingers provide their most devastating threat going forward as well, aside from Jude Bellingham’s influence as a number 10.
Regardless of whether Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo Goes start on the left wing against any team in the world, either of the Brazilians could tear any defence to shreds.
As a result, Manchester City will be hoping that their best wide defender is ready to put it all on the line and lock horns with the Spanish giants, like during the 2021/2022 season.
Guardiola provides Walker fitness update ahead of City vs Real Madrid
Two seasons ago, the Englishman had also missed the first leg through injury and in the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, he managed to start despite being clearly half-fit.
Miraculously, Kyle Walker still managed to give Vinicius Junior a difficult time in trying to go past him.
But eventually, the pain caused by Walker’s injury was far too much for him to play through.
Eventually, the Sky Blues capitulated, courtesy of a masterclass from Rodrygo, which was avenged by the treble-winners in the following campaign.
It seems like the 33-year-old finds himself in a similar situation once again.
Interestingly, Guardiola chose not to bring Walker against Luton, despite him being on the bench.
But as Manchester City gear up to go toe-to-toe with Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola has revealed that Kyle Walker feels much better now.
“He feels much better but his injury and now we will see next days. But it’s good, he feels good, maybe [he] can help us in terms of minutes because it’s a final”, he said [via HaytersTV].
“But I don’t want to lose him for a long time, he gets injured, I don’t know, we’ll decide, tomorrow, he’s going to train a little bit and we’ll see what happens.”
It is worth risking Kyle Walker
One can understand why Pep Guardiola is wondering that if he does start Manchester City captain Kyle Walker against Real Madrid, he could risk losing him to another injury.
Walker’s presence will be key until the end of the season for Guardiola.
But then again, when looking at City’s fixtures after their upcoming game against Real Madrid, in our view, they can manage without him.
The toughest games Manchester City will play are against Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United; games where the likes of John Stones and Manuel Akanji could do a job as neither of the teams have a world-class winger in their ranks.
The banana skin might emerge if Pep Guardiola takes a risk by starting Kyle Walker against Real Madrid, Manchester City win and they meet Bayern Munich in the Champions League semi-finals.
But last season, Akanji did brilliantly as a makeshift right-back in Walker’s absence and one year on, not much has changed in terms of his ability to have a stormer of a game yet again.
Starting Kyle Walker against Real Madrid may be the perfect example of a high-risk, high-reward decision from Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.