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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Tashan Deniran-Alleyne

Man City handed major double injury boost ahead of Monaco showdown

Pep Guardiola is nearing the dream scenario at Man City - (Getty Images)

Manchester City have been boosted by some good news ahead of their Champions League showdown against Monaco.

Man City face the Ligue 1 outfit on Wednesday night seeking to extend their unbeaten run across all competitions to six games.

Pep Guardiola’s side warmed up for the game at the Stade Louis II by recording a comfortable 5-1 win over Burnley in the Premier League at the weekend, with Erling Haaland netting a brace.

However, City were without influential midfielder Rodri for the game after the Spaniard confirmed he was experiencing pain in his knee.

Guardiola revealed: "Rodri was training and said, 'I'm not able to play. I have a lot of pain in my knee. I cannot play, I cannot play.'

“And I said, 'if you cannot play, you cannot play'.”

The good news for City is that Rodri appears to be winning his race to be fit for the Monaco fixture as he took part in the training session on Tuesday morning.

It remains to be seen if the midfielder will earn an immediate recall to the Man City squad, but the travelling party is expected to be announced shortly.

Back in training: Rayan Cherki (Getty Images)

Also in training on Monday was summer signing Rayan Cherki. A thigh injury has kept the Frenchman on the sidelines since the 2-0 loss to Tottenham in the second game of the season.

Speaking last month, Guardiola predicted Cherki would be out of action for up to eight weeks, thus suggesting a return at the beginning of November.

The fact the attacking midfielder is already back in full training means he is way ahead of schedule, and an update on his progress is expected when Guardiola addresses the media on Tuesday evening.

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