Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has made five changes to his starting lineup for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie against Sporting Lisbon.
John Stones, Aymeric Laporte and Joao Cancelo all return in defence, joining captain Ruben Dias, with the former replacing the suspended Kyle Walker at right-back. Nathan Ake and Oleksandr Zinchenko also drop out of the side.
Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne and Rodri will start in a three-man midfield along with Bernardo Silva, with Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho to begin from the substitutes' bench.
📋 TEAM NEWS IS IN! 📋
— Manchester City (@ManCity) February 15, 2022
XI | Ederson, Stones, Dias (C), Laporte, Cancelo, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Mahrez, Foden, Sterling
SUBS | Carson, Slicker, Ake, Gundogan, Zinchenko, Fernandinho, Kayky, Delap, Mbete, McAtee, Lavia#ManCity | #UCL pic.twitter.com/JLJn0WHAdr
Guardiola has named an unchanged attacking front three, with Raheem Sterling – last weekend's hat-trick hero against Norwich City – starting alongside Phil Foden and Riyad Mahrez.
Academy graduates Liam Delap, Luke Mbete, James McAtee and Romeo Lavia all occupy a place on the bench, while there is no place in the matchday squad for Jack Grealish, Gabriel Jesus or Cole Palmer, who are all sidelined with injuries.
Oliver Thomas
