Benjamin Mendy and Vincent Kompany returned to training ahead Manchester City, Schalke 04 first leg of the last 16 Champions League match at Veltins Arena.
Manchester City will be hoping to take a big stride towards the quarter-finals of the Champions League when they face Schalke on Wednesday night.
City are unbeaten in their last seven Champions League games against German opponents (W6 D1) since a 0-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in September 2014 – current manager Pep Guardiola was in charge of Bayern that day.
Guardiola needs a strong side to do the bulk of the work for the tie in this leg, he could miss Gabriel Jesus and John Stones who missed training with minor injuries.
Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva have really shone in recent games, making them almost impossible to leave out of the starting lineup. Fernandinho has to play though and Kevin De Bruyne should expect to come back in, so Bernardo may have to play out wide again.
Leroy Sane did enough at Newport to deservedly put his feet up ahead of Sunday, so Raheem Sterling can step instead.
In defence, the absence of two left-backs and John Stones leaves City slightly shorter of options. Vincent Kompany’s return is a plus though, and he would not have travelled if he wasn’t fit to play.
Aleks Zinchenko has returned to the team with a bang, but Danilo is still a safer bet at left-back
There is always a temptation to suggest City will rest players ahead of another pivotal match on the horizon, but as Guardiola proved over the weekend this is seldom the case.
If fit it would be good to see Kompany partner Laporte at the back, but given his return to fitness he might be saved for the Wembley final this weekend.
The match should offer respite for one of the midfield trio, perhaps David Silva given Fernandinho is genuinely undroppable.
For sentimental reasons it would be nice to see Gundogan and Sane feature, but no eyebrows will be raised when Guardiola inevitably selects a completely different side.
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