How Man City should line up vs Atletico Madrid in Champions League quarter-final

Manchester City will hope to welcome back John Stones for the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Atletico Madrid.

Stones missed both England games last week as a precaution, while Pep Guardiola decided against playing him in City's win at Burnley at the weekend for the same reason. With Ruben Dias still out, Nathan Ake and Aymeric Laporte would be the only two fit centre-backs if Stones is not ready to play.

Pep Guardiola must also weigh up the merits of playing three players who are one yellow card away from missing the second leg. Kevin De Bruyne, Joao Cancelo and Gabriel Jesus are all on a disciplinary tightrope, but he may not have a choice with Cancelo, as Kyle Walker serves the final game of his three-match suspension in the Champions League.

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Read how our writers think City should line up below and then use the interactive team selector to pick your own starting XI:

Simon Bajkowski

Guardiola will be cautious about allowing Atletico chances to counter, and with Ilkay Gundogan looking good against Burnley it seems sensible to play him alongside Bernardo Silva in midfield. De Bruyne is too good to be left out though, so with no ideal option up front he seems like a good fit to lead the line like he did in this competition last season.

Left-back is the key selection issue with Walker still suspended. Cancelo is the obvious choice to move over to his natural position on the right, leaving a choice between Ake and Oleksandr Zinchenko that Ake probably just shades - although that all changes if Stones isn’t fit!

City may need some dynamism to unlock Atletico at the back, so Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden as natural wingers