Ruben Dias offers significant update on Manchester City fitness ahead of Real Madrid showdown

Manchester City appear to have been handed a significant boost in the defensive ranks ahead of their clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League this week.

The Premier League champions are due to travel to the Spanish capital on Tuesday afternoon ahead of a crunch second-leg meeting with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu as part of their last-16 play-off tie.

Last week’s first-leg at the Etihad Stadium brought the drama that many had expected, as Erling Haaland’s brace against Los Blancos was still not enough to secure an advantage for the hosts, despite scoring his second in the closing exchanges of the game.

An opener from the Norwegian was equalised by Kylian Mbappe early in the second-half, only for Phil Foden to win a penalty that was duly converted by Haaland. However, late efforts from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham flipped the scoreline to give Madrid a 3-2 lead this week.

And alongside the lengthy lay-off suffered by Manuel Akanji in the first-half of the first-leg, there were also problems for Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias, while the latter has become the latest to issue an update on his own fitness.

In photos shared on the Portuguese defender’s official social media channels, Ruben Dias confirmed that he was present and correct in full Manchester City first-team training on Sunday in a significant boost ahead of the trip to the Spanish capital this week.

Manuel Akanji has since offered an update on his own health after the Swiss defender left Manchester for surgery on an abductor injury that is expected to keep him sidelined for up to 10 weeks – missing a number of crucial contests in the process.

There has been little in the way of developments around Nathan Ake’s fitness however Tuesday morning’s open training session at the City Football Academy is likely to offer some insight into how the squad is looking for the trip to Madrid this week.

It remains to be seen who Guardiola will turn to in the right-back position, particularly given the expectation that Akanji would be his solution for the foreseeable future, although his absence leaves options such as Abdukodir Khusanov, Rico Lewis, and Matheus Nunes.