Manchester City submit 21-man List A squad for UEFA Champions League group stage

European champions Manchester City have now submitted a 21-man List A squad for the first phase of their defence of their UEFA Champions League title.

Pep Guardiola and his players were crowned champions of Europe for the first time in the Champions League in the final game of last season, defeating Serie A giants Inter at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.

A single goal from City midfielder Rodri secured the club their maiden success in the competition, and capped off a stunning season that also saw the team claim a third successive Premier League title and an FA Cup final win over bitter rivals Manchester United.

Now, as Manchester City look to go one step further by claiming back-to-back Champions League trophies, the club have highlighted the list of players tasked with overcoming the first phase of this season’s competition.

Manchester City have been drawn into Group G in this season’s group stage, taking on RB Leipzig of Germany, FK Crvena Zvezda (also known as Red Star Belgrade) of Serbia, and BSC Young Boys of Switzerland.

As confirmed by Manchester City in an official club statement on Wednesday afternoon, Pep Guardiola’s 21-man List A squad for the UEFA Champions League group stage is as follows:

Goalkeepers: Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno, Scott Carson.

Defenders: Kyle Walker, John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Sergio Gomez, Josko Gvardiol.

Midfielders: Kalvin Phillips, Rodri, Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva.

Forwards: Julian Alvarez, Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland.

As per UEFA Champions League competition rules, the deadline for Manchester City’s List B submissions is 24.00CET on the night preceding each match throughout the competition.

UEFA rules state that the List A is made up of a maximum of 25 players, two of whom must be goalkeepers. There are a minimum of eight places reserved exclusively for ‘locally trained players’. If a club has fewer than eight locally trained players in their squad, then the maximum number of players on List A is reduced accordingly.

A player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, 1 January 2002 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday (players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years).

Manchester City supporters will notice the omission of a number of younger first-team stars, namely the likes of versatile full-back Rico Lewis and Norway youth international Oscar Bobb.

For clarification, both men do not need to be named in the club’s List A squad and as such can be named on List B and feature in all of Manchester City’s Champions League group stage contests as expected.