Kevin de Bruyne will be a ‘massive miss’ for Manchester City in their FA Cup semifinal meeting with Liverpool on Saturday, Danny Mills has told Football Insider.
The lowdown
De Bruyne was forced off in City’s goalless draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinal second leg after hurting his ankle.
And right-back Kyle Walker was also unable to complete the game at the Wanda Metropolitano after sustaining a similar injury.
Manager Pep Guardiola said after the match that the injuries had left his side in ‘big trouble’.
And in a fresh update in his Friday press conference, he revealed that neither De Bruyne nor Walker had trained on the eve of the game.
Liverpool are due to meet City for the second week in succession, with their semifinal pencilled in for 15.30 on Saturday. The winner will then play Chelsea or Crystal Palace in the May showpiece.
The latest
Mills, who played for City between 2004 and 2009, is confident that they’ll be able to cope with the absence of Walker.
But he fears that update on De Bruyne could potentially tip the scales in Liverpool’s favour.
“Kevin De Bruyne is a massive miss,” the Sky Sports pundit told FI. “Kyle Walker, they can probably deal with.
“[Joao] Cancelo slots across and [Oleksandr] Zinchenko comes in. You’re a touch weaker but they can deal with that.
The verdict
Is it advantage Liverpool without De Bruyne?
Yes
No - still too close to call
There’s no denying that De Bruyne is a huge loss for City. This is a player who was named the official ‘King of the Match‘ in last Sunday’s 2-2 draw after opening the scoring.
But perhaps Mills shouldn’t downplay the absence of Walker.
Another pundit, Paul Robinson, has warned that Luis Diaz and Sadio Mane, Liverpool’s left wing options, will be ‘licking their lips’ if Walker is absent.
The Englishman was named the fastest player in the Premier League in 2020 and that pace can help him neutralise opposition wingers.
Diaz’s acceleration has been described as ‘incredible‘ by Marko Grujic, so is he now primed to hurt City if he gets a start?
In other news, Liverpool are keen on this Real Madrid midfielder.
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