Pep Guardiola has shared an update regarding the fitness of Kyle Walker ahead of Manchester City’s upcoming clash against Inter Milan in the Champions League final.
After journalist Sam Lee revealed that Walker was not involved in this afternoon’s training session, Guardiola had this to say when asked in his latest press conference about the defender’s fitness ahead of Saturday’s showdown in Istanbul.
He said: “He has a disturbance in his back. Yesterday he was not good, today a bit better. We do not want to take risks so we will see.”
Having been taken off in the late stages of City’s recent FA Cup final win against Manchester United with a suspected injury, these latest comments from Guardiola confirm that the problem Walker had was in his back.
A race against time to be fit for Istanbul
The 33-year-old, who City signed from Tottenham Hotspur back in 2017 in a deal worth an overall fee of £50m, has been a prominent figure in the team recently.
Specifically, the Englishman completed the full 90 minutes in eight of City’s nine final Premier League games of their latest campaign, in addition to doing the same in both of the club’s Champions League semi-final matches against Real Madrid.
In fact, his defensive performance in the second leg earned him significant praise from Thierry Henry, who described Walker as a “beast” on the pitch, highlighting how effective he can be in the big occasions.
With that in mind, it seems likely that if he was fully fit, he would be in with a strong chance of being in the starting XI once Saturday’s big final comes around.
Moving forward, everyone at the Manchester club will surely be hoping the full-back can recover in time and play a part in the final.
