Man City squad must take advantage of injury crisis in UEFA Super Cup vs Sevilla

Manchester City will likely start the UEFA Super Cup without five of their starters from the Champions League final win in June.

Captain Ilkay Gundogan has left, while Ruben Dias, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva haven't travelled to Athens to take on Sevilla this week. Dias has concussion but should be back soon, De Bruyne has picked up a repeat of the hamstring injury that forced him off in the Champions League final, while Bernardo is reportedly ill.

John Stones has travelled to Greece after a minor hip injury caused him to miss the win over Burnley on Friday, but may not be risked on Wednesday.

That will leave five or six players who have found themselves out of the starting XI recently to potentially earn starts in a European 'final' and stake their claim to Pep Guardiola. A concerning injury crisis at the start of the season can be turned into a positive for City in Athens.

ALSO READ: How Stones helped Lewis change City's fortunes last season

Starting in defence, and Guardiola could stick with the back four from Turf Moor on Friday night. Nathan Ake and Manu Akanji were central, Kyle Walker was right, and Rico Lewis left. Lewis scored his record-breaking Champions League goal against Sevilla last season from right-back, and has played on the big stage a number of times in his career. However, maybe Ake is better on the left given the profile of this game.

Assuming Stones isn't ready to start - which he may be - that would leave Aymeric Laporte and new signing Josko Gvardiol to compete for the second centre-back spot. Both have their cases to support a start, with Laporte's future still uncertain. He would be the choice for consistency, while Gvardiol would be the more exciting selection. Both will want the