Pep Guardiola has confirmed Claudio Echeverri will miss Manchester City’s final Club World Cup group stage game against Juventus.
City face the Serie A giants in Orlando on the back of picking up maximum points from their opening two games and know they must win in order to top the group - and avoid a potential last-16 showdown with Real Madrid.
However, Guardiola will not be able to call upon Echeverri. In fact, an ankle injury is set to keep the 19-year-old - who went off at half-time after scoring in the 6-0 win over Al Ain - out for the remainder of the tournament.
Speaking to reporters, the Man City boss confirmed the bad news and hinted at making heavy rotation due to the weather conditions.
Guardiola said: “Claudio Echeverri has a problem in the ankle. Will be two or three weeks out. I feel so sorry for him from all of us.
“We’ll play new players [against Juventus]. And second half too, I'll make the selection tomorrow thinking of the second half.
“In these conditions we can't play the rhythm for 90 minutes. Hopefully we can make more substitutions.”
One player who is unlikely to start is Rodri as the midfielder continues to build his match sharpness after spending much of the season on the sidelines with an ACL injury.
The plan for the Spaniard is to give him another half hour in the tank.
Guardiola added: “Rodri can play, of course not for 90 minutes but the last 30 or 35. He's been making a step forward in the last three or four days.
“We had some problems and niggles, but we're happy we could add minutes to him.”
