Joe Hart is fit to start Manchester City’s Champions League quarter-final against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday, but Yaya Toure will miss out, manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed.
Hart suffered a calf injury in City’s Premier League defeat to Manchester United and missed both England friendlies in the recent international break, but is now ready to make his comeback.
The goalkeeper trained as normal in the build-up to the first leg, which will be held at the Parc des Princes, and is now expected to replace Willy Caballero for City.
“Joe worked without any problem,” said Pellegrini in his pre-match press conference.
“We always have a risk with players when they are coming back from injury but we make all the tests with Joe and he doesn’t have any problem to play.”
Javier Pastore and Marco Verratti are both unavailable for PSG due to injury, but Angel Di Maria is fit to play, after being rested for last weekend’s win over Nice.
City, who are in the quarter-finals for the first time, are also boosted by Kevin De Bruyne’s return to fitness, with the Belgium international midfielder starring in Saturday’s 4-0 Premier League win at AFC Bournemouth on his comeback.
With Raheem Sterling ruled out, De Bruyne will shoulder much of City’s creative burden for the clash against the Ligue 1 champions and Pellegrini hailed the playmaker.
“Kevin is always very important player for us, also I support the mentality of the team, we are not coming to draw or not to play in the way we do,” Pellegrini said.
“It doesn’t matter which competition we play, Kevin is a player who has goals so he is important for the team if he is playing. I will see if he is able to play 90 minutes.”
A knee injury will keep Toure out of the match, which comes after the Ivory Coast international’s agent Dimitri Seluk insisted the player will leave City at the end of the season.
“I always talk with Yaya, with all the players. Yaya is having problems with his knee so he’s not able to play,” Pellegrini said.
“So for other reasons, maybe a lot of things can happen, but all of the players must be focused now on this season and we will see what happens with Yaya in the future.”
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