Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku have been left out of Manchester City's squad for this evening's FIFA Club World Cup semi-final against Urawa Red Diamonds in Saudi Arabia.
The Citizens received a huge boost when De Bruyne returned to first-team training on Monday following a lengthy spell on the sidelined with a hamstring injury.
However, the 32-year-old will not be making his comeback just yet as he has not been selected in Pep Guardiola's matchday squad along with both Haaland and Doku, who were absent from training on Monday as they continue to recover from respective foot and muscle problems.
Guardiola has made a total of four changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace in the Premier League last weekend, with John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes all coming into the first XI at the expense of Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis and Julian Alvarez.
Ederson retains his place between the sticks and will be protected by a back four of Kyle Walker, Stones, Akanji and Nathan Ake, while Kovacic and Nunes join Rodri in a three-man midfield.
Guardiola has opted against selecting a natural striker, leaving Alvarez on the substitutes' bench, so either Phil Foden or Bernardo Silva is expected to take up a false nine role, while Jack Grealish – who has scored in each of his last three league appearances – continues to operate on the left flank.
As for Urawa Red Diamonds, head coach Maciej Skorza has named an unchanged starting lineup to the one that began last Friday's 1-0 win over Club Leon in the second round.
Alex Schalk came on as a late substitute to net the winner in that match, but the Dutch forward will begin on the bench once again this evening as Tomoaki Okubo, Kaito Yasui and Yoshio Koizumi all provide support in the final third for central striker Jose Kante.
Urawa Red Diamonds: Nishikawa; Sekine, Scholz, Hoibraten, Akimoto; Ito, Iwao; Okubo, Yasui, Koizumi; Kante
Subs: Niekawa, Yoshida, Sakai, Iwanami, Linssen, Nakajima, Schalk, Shibato, Ogiwara, Panya, Koroki, Ohata
Manchester City: Ederson; Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake; Rodri, Kovavic, Nunes; Grealish, Bernardo, Foden
Subs: Ortega, Carson, Lewis, Dias, Allyne, Gomez, Gvardiol, Phillips, Susoho, Hamilton, Bobb, Alvarez
Oliver Thomas
