Man City handed big injury boost ahead of Juventus tie as ‘important’ player is spotted in training

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Manchester City have been struck with various injury issues throughout the 2024/25 season.

For instance, after losing Oscar Bobb to a lengthy leg injury before the Premier League campaign kicked off, City saw Rodri suffer a season-ending injury in what was his first league start of the season back in September.

In addition to those two big blows, Pep Guardiola has seen other players such as Kevin De Bruyne, Nathan Ake and John Stones, among others, miss games due to injury and fitness issues.

However, ahead of Wednesday night’s big Champions League away tie with Juventus, the Blues have been handed what looks to be a big injury boost that should delight a lot of supporters.

• Man City injury list 2024/25: Latest updates and potential return dates for sidelined stars

Mateo Kovacic trains ahead of Man City vs Juventus

In Tuesday’s training session ahead of their midweek match in Italy, Mateo Kovacic was spotted in action among the majority of City’s squad.

Kovacic suffered an injury while on international duty during last month’s break, resulting in the midfielder missing City’s five previous matches across all competitions.

Also, Phil Foden was spotted in training after missing the Manchester club’s two previous matches with bronchitis.

Kovacic will be a welcome addition back to City’s team

Prior to City’s 4-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, Guardiola said Kovacic was injured and could be out for up to a month.

Back in October, after seeing the 30-year-old score two goals in City’s 3-2 win over Fulham, Guardiola dubbed Kovacic an “important” player for the team (via BBC Sport).

With the Citizens failing to get a consistent run of form under their belts in terms of winning games since then, seeing the Croatian back on the training pitch sooner than perhaps expected will give them a big boost.

Looking ahead to the match against Juventus, it’ll be interesting to see if Kovacic is able to play any sort of part in the game or if Guardiola decides to give him time to fully recover in time for Sunday’s big Premier League clash against Manchester United.