Grealish and Bernardo – Man City injury expected return dates

Manchester City may have defeated FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night but they did not escape unscathed.

City returned to Champions League action with a dominating 3-1 in the Danish capital in the first leg of the last 16 tie.

However, it transpired to be a brutal night on the injury front as both Jack Grealish and Bernardo were forced off the field.

Croatian pair Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic didn’t even make the trip as they dealt with their own problems.

Pep Guardiola didn’t enjoy the luxury of a fully fit squad for long and here is how City’s injury list is looking.

Grealish made his first start in over a month against Copenhagen but lasted just 20 minutes before he was forced to hobble off the field.

Guardiola revealed the 28-year-old has suffered a ‘muscular’ injury and will have tests on Wednesday to determine the severity.

“The last few days his mood at training was much better. He played really good, he was helping us with the tempo.

“You can’t play so fast. You have to find the right moment, the right tempo. He felt it on the grass, started to complain. The players can feel it immediately if it’s muscular.

Bernardo scored a lovely goal to put City back in the lead following an Ederson howler but his night ended in disappointment.

The Portuguese was forced off the field with 12 minutes remaining after taking a knock but, thankfully, it doesn’t appear to be too serious.

“Hopefully Bernardo is not a big issue. In a few days we have Chelsea at home and we have to recover as quickly as possible.”

Defender Gvardiol sat out the match against Copenhagen and has been ruled out of action for a few weeks with a minor ligament issue in his ankle.

What Guardiola said: “Josko [will be] two weeks or three weeks,” he said. “He has [a problem with a ligament] in his ankle.”

Kovacic has missed the last two matches with a knock but, thankfully, is now on the mend and could be involved against Chelsea on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, now with the schedule we have we need players fit and every game and training session we lose players and that is not good.”