Kyle Walker plays down injury concerns ahead of Champions League Final as Pep Guardiola reveals extent of problem

Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has played down injury concerns after a back problem forced the England full-back to miss training on Tuesday afternoon.

The 33 year-old was absent from Manchester City first-team training on Tuesday, as Pep Guardiola’s side begin preparations for Saturday’s UEFA Champions League Final in Turkey.

Walker, who was forced off during added time against Manchester United in the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, was the only member of the Manchester City squad to miss training on Tuesday.

The full-back played a crucial role in Manchester City reaching this weekend’s Champions League Final with an impressive performance against Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

City are bidding to win the competition for the first time on Saturday evening, with Walker having been part of the City team which suffered an agonising 1-0 loss to Chelsea in 2021.

The England international missed training due to a back problem according to manager Pep Guardiola, however the right-back was quick to personally play down the extent of the injury.

“He had a disturbance in his back. Yesterday he was not good,” said Guardiola.

“Today he was a little bit better. We didn’t want to take a risk and we will see in the next days.”

Walker himself spoke to the media on Tuesday afternoon, and the 33 year-old told Ben Ransom at Sky Sports that there we no concerns surrounding his fitness for the Champions League Final.

The full-back joked that ‘old age’ caused him to miss Tuesday’s training and that after lots of minutes in the legs recently, the manager had told him to do some individual work instead.

Manchester City are due to travel to Turkey later this week ahead of Saturday’s huge clash at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium.

Pep Guardiola currently doesn’t have any further fitness concerns ahead for the match against Inter Milan.