Ederson & Jesus could return for Man City

Published on: 18 October 2021

Ederson and Gabriel Jesus flew straight from South America to Belgium after playing for Brazil on Friday

Manchester City will make a late call on goalkeeper Ederson and striker Gabriel Jesus for Tuesday's Champions League game at Club Bruges.

The pair were in action for Brazil against Uruguay in the early hours of Friday and did not play in Saturday's 2-0 win over Burnley.

They flew straight to Belgium and City boss Pep Guardiola says they will be assessed later on Monday.

"[Tuesday] they will do the preparation and maybe play, maybe not," he said.

Manchester City are third in Group A with three points, having beaten RB Leipzig 6-3 but then lost 2-0 to Paris St-Germain.

Club Bruges are second with four points and Guardiola is expecting the Belgians to pose a tough test.

"What we have seen is physicality and they know what they have to do," he added.

"They have a lot of quality up front. We go there, we have four games left and 12 points to fight for to qualify for the last 16.

"This is the target and our mentality will be the same. We want to make them adjust and control the game with how we play."

'People expect us to win the Champions League'

Tuesday's fixture will bring Kevin de Bruyne back to his native Belgium for a club fixture for the first time since he left Genk for Chelsea in 2012.

While he is looking forward to the game, he says his focus is solely on helping City to end their wait for a Champions League trophy.

"I'm excited to go back home," said the playmaker.

"Obviously people will always set the standard higher and higher because of what we've won in England in the past five or six years. People expect us to win the Champions League. We've not won it but we are trying.

"Hopefully in my period here we can get one. It doesn't define your legacy - maybe [it does] for people outside. I'm happy with what we've done as a club for the past six years."

Source: bbc.com

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