Fears over injured De Bruyne and Walker as Man City prepare for FA Cup semi

Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker are major doubts for Manchester City’s FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool on Saturday.

The pair were both substituted after suffering injuries in Wednesday’s fractious Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid in the Spanish capital.

Both players were unable to participate as City held a training session at Millwall’s The Den on Friday having travelled straight to London following their European exertions.

Manager Pep Guardiola confirmed playmaker De Bruyne had required stitches in a foot wound while Walker had suffered a twisted ankle.

Speaking at a press conference at the Championship club’s ground, Guardiola said: “They didn’t train today. We’ll see tomorrow but apparently it’d be so close after what happened on Wednesday.”

The ill-tempered affair with Atletico ended with a melee involving several players from both sides in injury time and further scuffles broke out in the tunnel after players left the field.

Guardiola did not want to comment immediately after the match and was still in no mood to do so after two days’ reflection.

“It’s the past,” he said. “I’m not talking about it. We have an important game tomorrow.”

One player who was able to train on Friday was defender Ruben Dias, who was an unused substitute in midweek having been out since the start of March with a thigh injury.

Guardiola said: “He did train today. It was his third session with us.”