Manchester City’s Ruben Dias Sidelined for ‘Three or Four Weeks’

Manchester City faces another injury setback as manager Pep Guardiola announced that Portuguese central defender Ruben Dias will be sidelined for “three or four weeks” due to a muscle injury. Dias has secured 10 major trophies during his tenure with the club. Dias sustained this injury during Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Manchester United. Consequently, he will be unavailable for the upcoming festive schedule and could also miss the FA Cup third-round match against Salford on 11 January. The 27-year-old player’s participation in City’s vital Champions League away fixture against Paris St-Germain on 22 January is also in doubt. This season, Dias has already missed seven matches due to a calf injury. His absence further extends a list of defensive injuries that has previously included John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji, and Kyle Walker. Additionally, Ballon d’Or recipient Rodri is out for the rest of the domestic season after sustaining a cruciate knee ligament injury. Guardiola stated, “It’s a muscular problem and he will be out for three to four weeks.” He added, “After 75 minutes against United he felt something. But he’s so strong and wanted to stay on the pitch. Now he’s injured.” Guardiola confirmed that Stones, Akanji, and midfielder Mateo Kovacic have all participated in training this week and might be available for the match against Aston Villa on Saturday (12:30 GMT). However, he indicated that goalkeeper Ederson is “a doubt” due to an unspecified issue. “Ederson has been struggling with some niggles in his leg, he doesn’t feel completely fine,” Guardiola explained, emphasizing, “Ederson is so important for us.” Given City’s recent form of only one victory in 11 matches, there has been some surprise regarding Guardiola’s deployment of young players James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly. The club opted to retain both players despite having multiple loan opportunities for them. Nevertheless, McAtee has only made two substitute appearances, both in the final minute of play, and O’Reilly has not yet debuted in the league. It appears, however, that they will remain with the club for the latter half of the season, as Guardiola responded “I don’t think so” when questioned about potential player departures during the January transfer window. The Spanish manager stated he is “not a big fan” of acquiring players in January, but acknowledged it is “possible” City might seek to sign someone due to “the circumstances of this season have been special.” Immediately following the defeat to United, Guardiola’s demeanor was so somber that it was conceivable he might have considered himself no longer up to the task. He subsequently granted his players a few days of rest and appeared more upbeat when addressing journalists in his scheduled press conference before the trip to Villa. He commented, “We’d just finished a game that we lost in the circumstances and I was not happy.” “I try to be honest about the feelings of my teams. We fell down six times [number of Premier League games without a win], we have to stand up seven. There is no alternative,” he continued. He also stated, “I’m fine. I’m a normal person with feelings like all of us. When the situation is going well we are better but it’s normal. I would not go to the press conference if we were 1-0 up and expressing something that I didn’t feel.” Jack Grealish, a former Aston Villa forward, has not scored for City in more than a year, but Guardiola highlighted that he is not the sole attacking player experiencing difficulties this season. He further added, “We are struggling to create a little bit up front, but always I am optimistic about my players that they are going to turn and perform well.”