Nicolas Otamendi played through the pain barrier for Manchester City against Wolves.
With Aymeric Laporte and John Stones injured before the international break, the Argentine formed an unlikely partnership with Fernandinho in the centre of defence. After clean sheets against Shakhtar and Watford, the Blues were fortunate to emerge from Goodison Park having conceded only one game with Ederson making a string of fine saves.
And despite a clean sheet three days later against Dinamo Zagreb, the Blues were stunned by Wolves to fall eight points that weekend behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League with Otamendi in particular coming in for criticism for his performance.
The Argentine was not deemed fit enough for the game at Crystal Palace on Saturday despite playing for his country against Germany in the international break. After coming off the bench against Atalanta, Otamendi explained that he had actually picked up an injury in the Everton game but played through it against Dinamo, Wolves and Germany before finally being forced to rest.
“After the international break I tried to recover from the pain I had on my back,” he told City's website .
“I had a small injury after playing Everton and I kept on playing in the following games. Then I had to stop to recover, but now I’m available.”
Guardiola has previously praised the ability of Otamendi to play through injuries, but was forced to do without him at Selhurst Park after a back problem took its toll.
