Manchester City pair Mateo Kovacic and Josko Gvardiol were not seen in training on Monday, according to the Manchester Evening News reporter Tyrone Marshall.
The two Croatian internationals were expected to take part in a session ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League last 16 first leg against FC Copenhagen but posting on X, Marshall said neither player was present:
City training ahead of the trip to Copenhagen. Can’t see Mateo Kovacic out there but looks a clean bill of health aside from that #mcfc pic.twitter.com/QRm52YL46x
— Tyrone Marshall (@TyMarshall_MEN) February 12, 2024
Lots of players wearing hats at City training but having had a look at the footage as well, no sign of Josko Gvardiol out there either in the 15 minutes open to the media #mcfc
— Tyrone Marshall (@TyMarshall_MEN) February 12, 2024
Officially, City have a fully fit squad but manager Pep Guardiola will provide an update on the injury list when he does his pre-match press conference.
Kovacic could potentially miss facing his former club
Following the Copenhagen match, the Cityzens are set to face Chelsea this weekend which is, of course, Kovacic’s previous team.
The midfielder only played the last 10 minutes of the 4-4 draw against the Blues back in November but it looks as though he could miss the return fixture altogether unless he can recover his fitness pretty swiftly before Saturday.
City will be hoping to have the pair back available soon
Pep Guardiola’s side have a busy fixture list coming up so the absence of Kovacic and Gvardiol is certainly far from ideal.
After the Copenhagen and Chelsea games, they have another midweek fixture versus Brentford. Further matches against the likes of Bournemouth, Luton (in the FA Cup), Manchester United and Copenhagen will also take place in the next 3 weeks.
The only time the squad will have more than a few days off will be between the Brighton and Liverpool fixtures in mid-March.
