Manchester City have been lumbered with an injury blow ahead of this week’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid, after Pep Guardiola confirmed why John Stones was absent over the weekend.
City won 3–0 against Sunderland to cut Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League table to just two points, but Stones was conspicuously missing from the matchday squad.
The Englishman hasn’t been a regular starter in the Premier League this season, with Guardiola typically preferring to pair Rúben Dias and Joško Gvardiol at centre back. But Stones retains an important squad role and has generally started Champions League games instead.
Stones even captained City in the defeat to Bayer Leverkusen on matchday five. Guardiola’s side need a positive result in Madrid to strengthen their claim for a top eight league phase finish. They currently sit ninth.
Guardiola clarified after the final whistle of the Sunderland game that the reason for omitting Stones was injury-related. However, it is not clear how long he might be out.
“To be honest, I don’t know,” was the manager’s response when asked to provide a timeframe.
Sunderland was only the second game Stones has only missed this season because of injury, having also been ruled out of September’s Manchester derby.
The former Everton star was unavailable for huge chunks of last season because of foot and hamstring injuries, while he hasn’t been fit for an entire campaign since 2020–21.
Stones Considered Retiring Over Injury Frustration
John Stones opens up about nearly calling it quits. pic.twitter.com/NsudFeFJou
— Sports Illustrated FC (@SI_FootballClub) October 7, 2025
In recent months, Stones has spoken on multiple occasions about his struggles with the mental toll injuries bring, addressing “dark days” and a desire to quit the sport altogether.
“It’s difficult when you're injured,” he told reporters during the summer’s FIFA Club World Cup.
“There’s been points where you think, you’ve been giving all this effort, you dedicate all your life, especially how I approach or go about my life, and football, I give everything, on and off the pitch to be here or be ready to play games and those are the dark days."
More recently, in October, Stones told BBC Radio 5 Live that he considered retiring.
“Last season was tough for me, to the point where I thought about stopping,” he said “I didn’t want to [continue]. I’d had enough of being so professional and trying to do everything right in my power, to then keep breaking down and not having the answers. It was a very difficult place to be in.
"There comes a point where you don’t know why it happens and it is even harder when you put in so much effort, or you are ultra professional, to be able to play and be available. When that time comes and something happens, it would be easier to say, ‘Well, I didn’t do X, Y and Z, that’s why’—but when you do it, it’s then mentally challenging. Hopefully I don’t go back to that place.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man City Dealt Injury Blow Ahead of Real Madrid Champions League Clash.
