Man City’s Euro stars set to return but Ellen White out of Champions League tie

Some of England’s European Championship winners are set to return to competitive action this week as Manchester City play in the Champions League first qualifying round in Madrid, but Ellen White will not be involved.

City take on Khazakh side Tomiris-Turan in the Spanish capital on Thursday, with the winners then facing either Real Madrid or Sturm Graz on Sunday.

Seven City players were part of England’s triumphant squad at the home Euros last month – White, Keira Walsh, Lauren Hemp, Chloe Kelly, who scored the winning goal in the July 31 Wembley final, Alex Greenwood, Demi Stokes and Ellie Roebuck.

And City boss Gareth Taylor told a press conference on Wednesday: “We’re really super proud of all of the girls.

“I think that’s the word that we’ve used a hell of a lot, whether it’s been privately with the players, socially – the amount of pride we have as a club with those players, and all our representation at the Euros.”

White, the Lionesses’ 52-goal record scorer, will not travel with the City squad to Spain, with Taylor saying the 33-year-old striker had been given “some extended time away due to personal reasons”.

The six other England players returned to training with City last week and, asked about their readiness for match action, Taylor added: “I think they’re OK.

“I think sometimes the issue you can have is giving them too long off, is deconditioning. I think they’ll still be in pretty good condition.

“And when you look at the nature of some of them, in terms of Chloe, where she didn’t do a hell of a lot last season (due to injury), came into it quite late, minutes weren’t massively high in the Euros, same with Alex, Demi and Ellie, I think from that respect they wouldn’t have lost too much in that period of