Why isn’t John Stones playing for Manchester City in the Champions League?

The big team news ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League games was the absence of John Stones from the Manchester City team to face Real Madrid.

The Englishman was a key part of the City team that lifted the Champions League last year to complete a famous treble. He starts on the bench for today’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium as City come up against a fierce Madrid attack.

Stones suffered a hip injury at the start of the season that kept him out for two months but he has returned to be a key part of this City team once again. He played 90 minutes in the first leg against Real Madrid but was rested for last weekend’s victory over Luton Town. With Kyle Walker back in contention it looks like Stones is simply the victim of City’s incredible squad depth.

Will Pep Guardiola regret not starting Stones on the bench? In recent years we’ve seen how the absence of a key player in a crucial game can spell disaster for teams’ Champions League dreams. City reached the UCL final for the first time in their history in 2021, where they came up against Premier League rivals Chelsea.

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City were the stronger team in domestic competition but Pep Guardiola opted against playing either Rodri or Fernandinho as a defensive midfielder, fielding the more offensively-minded Ilkay Gundogan in the role. Without that extra layer of protection City were hit on the break by Chelsea’s Kai Havertz who scored the only goal of the game to deny City their first European title.

Who is playing today in the Champions League?

European soccer’s elite club competition is now into the quarter-finals, where eight genuine giants are battling it out for a place in the final four. The first games in those two-legged ties was played last week, with the all-important second legs taking place across Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 April.

The order of the Tuesday and Wednesday fixtures has flipped for this week’s UCL ties. Borussia Dortmund, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain all played their first leg games on Wednesday, but have moved to Tuesday for the return fixtures.

On Tuesday Borussia Dortmund picked up a dramatic 4-2 victory to progress past Atlético Madrid. Elsewhere ten-man Barcelona fell short against Paris Saint-Germain and slumped to a 4-1 defeat in front of their own fans.

The two remaining quarter-finals will be concluded on Wednesday with four potential winners going head-to-head. Reigning European champions Manchester City will host Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, while Arsenal travel to Bayern Munich.

When the draw was made the meeting between City and Madrid, the two previous winners of the Champions League, was heralded as the tie of the round. The two teams played out a breathless 3-3 draw in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, tilting the tie in City’s favour ahead of the return leg in Manchester. When they met at the Eitihad Stadium in last year’s competition City roared to a 4-0 win over Los Blancos. Real Madrid will be out to avenge that result today.