Pep Guardiola has revealed Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish and Ruben Dias face a fight to be fit for treble-chasing Manchester City’s FA Cup final clash with Manchester United on Saturday.
Belgium midfielder De Bruyne, England winger Grealish and Portugal defender Ruben Dias missed City’s 1-0 defeat at Brentford through injury on Sunday.
The Premier League champions, who face Inter Milan in the Champions League final in June 10, are looking to match Manchester United’s feat of winning all three major trophies in one season.
But City’s hopes of defeating their bitter rivals at Wembley next weekend would be hit if De Bruyne, Grealish and Dias are unable to recover from their injuries in time.
Asked if the players who missed out against Brentford would be fit to face United, City boss Guardiola said: “I don’t know right now. Hopefully.
“Ruben, Jack and Kevin couldn’t play. It is what it is. I think they will be ready but it’s hard to get ready in training. That’s why I had to see the players who played today.”
Pinnock’s 85th-minute strike made Brentford the only team to do the double over City this season, and only the fifth since Guardiola took over in 2016.
“I’m pretty sure we would have behaved a little bit different if we needed the points,” Guardiola said.
“I don’t have any complaints of how we behaved, I said to the players just now ‘you won the title, enjoy two days with your families and then we will prepare for the first final’.
“The guys who didn’t play who normally play were exhausted yesterday, mentally completely drained. They needed to rest to arrive with the right energy to face United.”
