Phil Foden and Eric Garcia are eligible to play in Manchester City's Champions League opener after unsurprisingly being added to the squad list for this season's tournament.
City initially named a 21-man 'A List' squad, with Foden and Garcia notable exceptions, as they qualified to be included on the 'B List'. Their absence from the A List would, in theory, allow City to name more homegrown players up to the 25-man maximum, but the Blues are limited in that area so their squad size was capped.
No senior player was omitted, though, with new signings Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres included, plus goalkeeper Zack Steffen.
Now, Foden and Garcia have been confirmed as B List players, along with goalkeeper James Trafford, centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis, and midfielders Adrian Bernabe, Cole Palmer, Felix Nmecha, and Tommy Doyle.
Clubs are free to add players to their 'B list' no later than 24 hours before a European tie if he is born on, or after, January 1 1999 and has been eligible to play for their parent club for an uninterrupted period of two years since their 15th birthday. That allows any other youngsters to be called up to the squad for future Champions League fixtures.
City face Porto just over two months since their defeat by Lyon in last season's quarter-finals, with Raheem Sterling expressing how the relatively quick turnaround between seasons could benefit the Blues in their search for the Champions League trophy.
“It’s always good to play in the Champions League… especially with the difficult result we had in Portugal," he explained. “So, it’s great to have another try at it. Let’s just go in it, enjoy it and see where it takes us!”
Man City Champions League A List: Ederson, Steffen, Carson, Walker, Dias, Stones, Ake, Zinchenko, Laporte, Mendy, Cancelo, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Torres, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Sterling, Jesus, Aguero.
B List: Trafford, Garcia, Harwood-Bellis, Foden, Doyle, Bernabe, Palmer, Nmecha
