Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola welcomed the additional day to prepare for their midweek Champions League match against Juventus, stating it would provide his stretched squad with much-needed recovery time from Saturday's league encounter with Crystal Palace. City's 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park dealt another blow to their title aspirations, with Guardiola's squad already depleted by illness and injury, including key absences such as Rodri, Mateo Kovacic, John Stones, and Phil Foden.
Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake recently joined City's growing list of absentees, both sidelined due to injuries sustained in their 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest last week. Guardiola expressed his relief at the extra preparation time, noting, "My people have started to study (Juventus) and fortunately we don't play on Tuesday, we play on Wednesday so we have one more day to recover these players because we don’t have players to come back." He acknowledged the hard work of the medical staff in trying to get players fit but emphasized the need to accept that injuries are an inherent part of football.
Guardiola urged his team to embrace the challenge, stating, "Don’t feel sorry, accept the challenge and maybe at the end we will have more satisfaction about the way we behave than in other seasons when we won the titles." City's recent Champions League performances have been mixed, with a 4-1 loss to Sporting and a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord.
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