City suffer double injury blow ahead of derby clash with United

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has conducted his pre-match press conference ahead of the weekend meeting with Manchester United.

The Spaniard confirmed that defenders Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake will miss the game, with Dias out for between four to six weeks with a hamstring problem.

There was also praise for Cristiano Ronaldo and Ralf Rangnick ahead of the game at the Etihad Stadium.

Guardiola has beaten United at home just once as City manager, but of course led his side to a 2-0 victory at Old Trafford back in November.

“Nathan [Ake] and Ruben [Dias] are not ready,” he said, adding on Dias: “Muscular. Hamstring. Four to six weeks. It happens. I’d love him but he’s not there, I will not cry. It is what it is. We have decent players available. We have 14-15 players. With these players, we are going to fight and try to play good.”

“The idea from Ralf Rangnick is the tendency already in the Premier League. Ralf Rangnick is the father of gegenpress and top clubs, five or six teams are playing this way. The work Ralf Rangnick has done in Germany is exceptional. Then Austria, Red Bull teams play the same philosophy and you can already see some patterns of what he wants to do.”

On Ronaldo, he said: “One of the greatest in the last 15 years alongside Messi. We aren’t going to see it again. When you achieve these things you’re under scrutiny every day. Today especially with social media. He was too good and as a finisher – exceptional. Top player. It was a joy to watch in these years.

“We have to explode our game and strength to avoid him close to the ball. The game we played there, first time he arrived Ederson made an incredible save. This is the quality he has. We have to control him. One of the greatest, goalscoring machine, always he is so strong mentally.

“He handles this pressure without a problem, lives with expectation throughout his career in a positive way.”

Dias is a huge defender for City, who transformed their backline last season so his absence is a boost for United ahead of the game.

Aymeric Laporte and John Stones will likely start at centre-half at the weekend, and they remain experienced international central defenders with a lot of quality on the ball.

United will likely use their pace to try and counter City and make the most of the vast spaces their defenders leave behind.

Tottenham offered a template for victory last month when they won 3-2 at the Etihad Stadium. Harry Kane was outstanding that day and a similarly virtuoso performance from Ronaldo would go a long way to getting United a result on Sunday.