Manchester City handed injury boost ahead of AS Monaco Champions League tie

City’s star player Rodri trained ahead of the game.

Rodri and Rayan Cherki are back to training ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League trip to Monaco, giving Manchester City a significant boost in fitness.

Rodri complained of knee soreness during Friday’s training session, which caused him to miss the weekend victory over Burnley. As he works to regain full fitness, the 29-year-old was experiencing pain in the same knee that he injured in September of last year.

Rodri and Cherki back in training ahead of UCL fixture

However, he trained and chatted with fitness coach Lorenzo Bonaventura on Tuesday morning, making him the first player out on the grass at the City Football Academy. After that, Rodri joined the rest of the team in the session.

Cherki, who has been out since the last week of August due to a thigh injury, joined him. He is getting closer to making a comeback.

The £34 million midfield player was anticipated to miss two months of action after being unavailable for the trip to Brighton at the end of August.

However, he has recovered more quickly than anticipated, and Tuesday marked his first day of complete training. He could play on Wednesday against AS Monaco or on Sunday against Brentford in the Premier League.

Other City players’ injury update

After undergoing Achilles surgery last summer, Mateo Kovacic is still recovering and working to make his first appearance since May.

Kalvin Phillips participated in the training session as well. The midfield player is available for Premier League games even if he is not in the team’s Champions League roster.

Three members of City’s first team are still out: Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri, and Abdukodir Khusanov. Following the international break, all three might be available once more.

James Trafford and Gianluigi Donnarumma trained on Tuesday, but neither Stefan Ortega nor Marcus Bettinelli were there.

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