Pep Guardiola's fury with Kyle Walker as Manchester City face Sporting in Champions League

Pep Guardiola has told Kyle Walker he is still angry with him for his December dismissal against RB Leipzig which leaves Manchester City without a specialist right back and short of defenders for Wednesday's Champions League last-16 second leg against Sporting Lisbon.

With Joao Cancelo ill and both Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias injured, City only have three defenders and just 14 senior players available, leaving Guardiola with a decision over whether to put the veteran midfielder Fernandinho into the back four or to parachute in a youngster from the academy.

Walker is suspended after kicking out at Leipzig’s Andre Silva in a dead rubber for City, who had already qualified from the group, and Guardiola revealed he disagreed with the club’s decision to appeal against his three-match ban, in a failed attempt to reduce it to two.

The right-back will also miss the first leg of the quarter-finals, which City, boasting a 5-0 lead after their first leg in Portugal, seem very likely to reach. Guardiola is likely to omit Kevin de Bruyne, who is a booking away from a ban, to ensure the midfielder can feature in the last eight, but he remains annoyed with Walker for his needless red card.

Guardiola said: “He deserved the three-game ban. When a player does a stupid thing, he deserves to be banned for three games. I'm not so kind to Kyle in this kind of action. I'm still so angry with him.

“It's not necessary to discuss with him, he knows it. Kyle is so important for us, you saw the game he played against [Manchester] United? But in Leipzig, when we had already qualified, 80 minutes in and he made this kind of action? He deserves the three games. The club appealed but I did not agree. Hopefully he learns for the future.”

The 18-year-old