Pep Guardiola gives Jack Grealish and Man City team news update ahead of Champions League clash

Jack Grealish’s shin problem is improving - but the Manchester City club-record signing will not be fit to play against Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League tomorrow night.

The £100million man was absent from the City squad that won 4-0 at Norwich on Saturday and missed training this morning, ahead of the Blues’ flight to Portugal.

Pep Guardiola has since confirmed that Grealish will miss the trip, along with Gabriel Jesus and Cole Palmer, both also injured.

Guardiola said that the shin issue is not the same problem that kept him out of the Aston Villa squad for nearly three months last season, and expressed a hope that the player would be fit enough to travel with the squad for the last-16 first-leg game.

That hope has not materialised, with Guardiola saying: “He’s better but not ready for tomorrow, nor Gabriel or Cole Palmer.”

But the Blues are going into the game high on confidence, said Guardiola, after a 15-match unbeaten run in the Premier League, with the perfection of that record only being spoiled by the draw at Southampton last month.

Asked about the levels of belief, Guardiola said: “Always it was high, not just now, all the seasons, the high standards for a long time.”

The Champions League remains the holy grail for City, although last season's first final was their best performance in the competition.

Guardiola said he was unfazed by constantly being asked about how much it troubles him that the Champions League remains unconquered despite City’s domestic dominance in the last five years.

“You can ask whatever, as many times as you want,” he said. “Does it bother me? no, but it means we are here.

“An honour to travel to Portugal to compete well and try to win the game. On the grass will dictate our