Man City's Champions League plans heavily disrupted as Guardiola press conference delayed

Amidst hazardous weather conditions, Manchester City’s arrival in Lisbon was significantly delayed.

The infamous Mancunian drizzle is well-known, however, Lisbon was the city grappling with torrential weather on Monday. Consequently, City’s schedule took a hit as head coach Pep Guardiola and midfielder Bernardo Silva, were scheduled to host a press conference for around 7.10pm. That has since been delayed to 8pm, however.

This hiccup comes at an inconvenient time for the team seeking to rebound from back-to-back defeats. Despite these travel woes, earlier today saw a productive training session in Manchester.

City’s airplane was circling Lisbon for an extended period as they were forced to wait before landing in the Portugal capital, postponing their plans upon arrival.

Guardiola brought along 22 members of his first-team squad for the Champions League tie, though notably absent were Jack Grealish, John Stones, and Ruben Dias. Promising left-back Josh Wilson-Ebrand has been brought back into the fold.

With both City and Sporting sitting even on seven points after splitting their first three games in the revamped Champions League, their upcoming encounter is hotly anticipated.

Memories of City’s emphatic 5-0 victory in the Round of 16 match here in February 2022 linger on, followed by a subsequent goalless draw.

Sporting’s head coach Ruben Amorim lauded the opposition ahead of their clash, stating: “We expect a very difficult game, from the best team and the best coach in the world,” and added, “The big teams respond in a stronger way.

“There is talk of injuries, in the last game [Kevin] De Bruyne and Savinho were on the bench, but a lot of players can recover. We expect a very difficult game, from the best team in the world, from the best coach in the world. An exciting, difficult game and we want to be competitive and win the game.”

Before jetting to Portugal, Erling Haaland concerningly hit the deck during this morning’s training session, in a moment that was captured by TV cameras.

The striker clutched his leg in pain but soon returned to his feet and his team-mates did not appear concerned, though Guardiola will soon provide an update on his condition.