Manchester City welcome back several senior stars from injury just in time for a crunch Champions League clash with Real Madrid.

City have been beset by injury issues this season and while Pep Guardiola does not have the luxury of a fully-fit squad, he is in his best position for a number of weeks when it comes to absentees. Oscar Bobb and Mathues Nunes were missing from training on Monday while Rodri remains sidelined but otherwise Guardiola has a full crop to choose from.

In goal, Stefan Ortega was beaten from 45 yards at Leyton Orient on Saturday and City have missed Ederson's distribution in recent games. The Brazilian is first choice and trained on Monday. He has to start.

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Guardiola has been handed a huge boost by the return of several of his defensive options meaning we could see Ruben Dias and John Stones paired together for the first time since October. They had 45 minutes each at Orient but are City's best centre back pairing when fit and firing and with the frontline Madrid can offer, they represent the best chance of a positive defensive performance.

Josko Gvardiol will return at left back after being handed the weekend off while Matheus Nunes' injury absence could open the door for Rico Lewis. Yet Guardiola has used the 20-year-old sparsely in recent weeks and Manuel Akanji could slide across to full back and offer solidity.

In midfield, Mateo Kovacic will start while new signing Nico Gonzalez can partner him having seemingly overcome the injury that forced him off at Orient. Those two can provide stability while a front four of Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden, Savinho and Erling Haaland can offer the creativity.

Three of those four were left out of the XI at Orient and while Jack Grealish performed well, Omar Marmoush has shown flashes of his ability and Jeremy Doku is fit again, Savinho heads that queue at the moment. Bernardo Silva, so often a big game starter for City, might have to make do with a place on the bench.

City predicted XI vs Real Madrid: Ederson; Akanji, Stones, Dias, Gvardiol; Kovacic, Gonzalez, De Bruyne, Foden, Savinho, Haaland