Pep Guardiola suggested that Gabriel Jesus and Ederson do not need to train with Manchester City before the Champions League game with Club Brugge in order to be involved.
The two Brazilians flew straight to Belgium after playing for their country in Friday, to enable them to avoid Covid quarantine restrictions. Because they played in Colombia during the international break, had they landed in the UK they would only have been allowed to leave their homes for work purposes.
However, because City have decided when the pandemic first hit to train in Manchester rather than at the opposition ground ahead of Champions League games it means that Jesus and Ederson will only meet up with the rest of the squad at the team hotel on Monday evening.
Asked about their possible inclusion, Guardiola pointed to the fact that they have worked with the group for so many years — and the fact that staff including goalkeeping coach Richard Wright travelled early to Belgium to help them prepare — to make the case for why they could feature on Tuesday night.
"With Gabriel and Eddy, we are together for four or five years. They don't need special things to be ready," said Guardiola.
"We will talk to them, how they feel. I'm pretty sure they will feel good because they both recover really well. They trained two days there with our physios, physical trainers and Richard and we will see tonight how they feel.
"We will join them tonight in the hotel and tomorrow they will do preparation and maybe play, maybe not. The day after, we will come back to Manchester in the normal daily routine and life. "
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