Man City have four discipline issues to consider for Atletico Madrid showdown

What to do with Grealish?

Diego Simeone admitted after the first leg that Atletico were expecting Phil Foden to start in Madrid, and from the way they acted when Jack Grealish came on the pitch it looked as if they were trying to make up for lost time with the former Aston Villa captain. Grealish won five fouls for Manchester City in about 20 minutes on the pitch as the visitors tried every trick to wind him up — with some success as Pep Guardiola had to step in at one point.

Grealish could be a perfect decoy for City if he starts, with the potential for Atletico to get distracted with their plan for the England international compromising their overall strategy for the match. However, the 26-year-old didn't exactly keep his cool when challenged and, having already suffered too many disciplinary issues this season in the competition, Guardiola will have to think hard about how he wants to use Grealish.

Yellow card tightropes

Gabriel Jesus came off the bench in the first leg and picked up a silly yellow card that rules him out of this match. Kyle Walker will presumably be welcomed back, despite having been very publicly reprimanded for the red card at RB Leipzig that sidelined him for three matches.

Read more: Man City training squad for Champions League game with Atletico

Guardiola also has decisions to make on Kevin De Bruyne and Joao Cancelo, who are both one booking away from missing the first leg of the semi-final. It was easy to leave them out of the second leg with Sporting when they were 5-0 up, but with so much riding on this game the manager may have to gamble on the discipline of two of his most important players.

Fernandinho nous

In the debate about Atletico and their dark arts, there is nobody in the City