24-man Manchester City squad spotted in training ahead of Bratislava meeting in Champions League

Pep Guardiola had a squad roster of 24 players present in first-team training on Monday morning at the City Football Academy.

It was the final round of preparations undertaken by the reigning Premier League champions ahead of matchday two in the league phase of this season’s UEFA Champions League competition.

Manchester City follow up an away trip to Newcastle United with a visit to Slovakia as they take on SK Slovan Bratislava, looking to secure their first goals and three points of the new revamped version of Europe’s premier club competition.

Matchday one saw a repeat of the 2023 Champions League final as Inter Milan visited the Etihad Stadium. However, with no Rodri heroics and two stern defences on show, a 0-0 draw would share the points between the two clubs.

Last time out was another draw for Manchester City too, as the club played out their third draw in four matches with a 1-1 outcome against Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United, with Anthony Gordon’s second-half penalty cancelling out Josko Gvardiol’s opener.

As Manchester City gear up to travel to Slovakia on Monday afternoon ahead of Tuesday night’s clash in Bratislava, here is the 24-man squad we spotted in first-team open training at a rainy City Football Academy!

24-man Manchester City training squad vs SK Slovan Bratislava

Goalkeepers: Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Scott Carson.

Defenders: Rico Lewis, Kyle Walker, Manuel Akanji, Max Alleyne, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Seb Naylor, Josko Gvardiol.

Midfielders: Mateo Kovacic, Matheus Nunes, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva, James McAtee, Phil Foden.

Forwards: Will Dickson, Jaden Heskey, Emilio Lawrence, Jack Grealish, Jeremy Doku, Savinho, Erling Haaland.

There are no new absences from the Manchester City squad this week, despite Erling Haaland limping off from the weekend’s draw against Newcastle having sustained a number of “knocks” across the 90 minutes.

Kevin De Bruyne (groin) remains sidelined but is also the closest to making a return to training, whilst Nathan Ake and Oscar Bobb continue to recover from their respective muscular and bone fracture injuries.

Rodri is at the early stage of his recovery from ACL and meniscus surgery and is expected to play no part in any Manchester City action until the middle of 2025.