Manchester City have seemingly suffered a huge injury blow after full-back Kyle Walker was forced off with an ankle injury during the Champions League clash at Atletico Madrid.
Depending on how serious the injury is, he could miss Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool and Premier League clashes with Brighton and Watford.
Kyle Walker can barely move. Surely have to get him off
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) April 13, 2022
Manchester City Injury Update as Walker Picks Up Ankle Injury
Kyle Walker suffered the injury just past the hour-mark in Manchester City’s Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
Walker needed treatment after a collision when he tried to clear the ball. Moments earlier Kevin de Bruyne was also forced off with an injury against a rough Madrid side.
Pep Guardiola’s side avoided an upset in the quarter-finals as de Bruyne’s first-leg goal proved to be enough to reach the semi-finals.
There was late drama in Spain, however, when Stefan Savic charged in on Phil Foden after a clean tackle from Marcos Llorente. Savic received a yellow card for his involvement as both sides entered a fracas, whilst Brazilian Felipe was shown a second yellow card and sent for an early bath.
Walker has been in brilliant form for City in recent weeks with the 31-year-old an ever-present in Guardiola’s matchday squads.
He has started 29 games across all competitions this season scoring once and contributing two assists; it is his off-the-ball contributions – his driving runs behind the attacking players, however – that makes him more useful to City.
Ahead of any further Manchester City injury update, Walker’s knock means Guardiola is suddenly short of options in one key area of his squad. Joao Cancelo can feature on the right side of defence but is more commonly used on the left.
If Cancelo was to be switched to the right, that would require Oleksandr Zinchenko playing on the left or even Nathan Ake being drawn across from central defence.
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