The Premier League holders played their first – and only – friendly of the winter World Cup break on Saturday against sister club Girona, winning 2-0 with both Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne getting on the scoresheet.
But only four other senior players – Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez, backup left-back Sergio Gomez and number two goalkeeper Stefan Ortega – were involved in the match.
The rest of the matchday squad was comprised of youth players and Guardiola is not optimistic about the state of his team going into Thursday’s Carabao Cup showdown with Liverpool at the Etihad.
Asked how hard it is to plan for that match, Guardiola’s told the club’s website: ‘We have four players. We have four or five players so we have to see how others are coming back.
‘We are in a difficult [moment]. We don’t have players.
‘But, you know, the big brains of football thought they would make this schedule so we are going to play this game.’
A large number of City’s players reached the latter stages of the World Cup – though only one, Julian Alvarez, will play in Sunday’s final – and they will return to training over the coming days, though appear unlikely to be involved against Liverpool.
On his returning players, Guardiola continued: ‘Some players are coming now, in the next few days, and step by step will join the people here.
‘People are coming back soon so Nathan [Ake] and Aymeric [Laporte] and Rodri are coming back, and then, later, the English players and Portuguese players are coming back.’
Guardiola was happy, at least, with his side’s performance against Girona, saying: ‘Yeah really good. It was the first game after a long, long time – especially for some players that haven’t played much.
‘For a long time Erling, Sergio and Riyad haven’t played a game. Good minutes for all of us and we played against our friends, the Girona team, so yeah, good.’
On Alvarez’s breakout performances in Qatar, the City boss added: ‘All of us are happy for him. He’s going to play the final, he’s going to deal with what happens, he has a few days off to rest and after he’ll come back.’
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