Roberto Mancini's Italy hand Man City potential boost ahead of treble run-in

It's fair to say that when they return from the international break, Manchester City will face their most important run of fixtures of the season to date.

In the space of 11 days in early April, Pep Guardiola's side will face Liverpool and Atletico Madrid twice each in three different competitions. Of course, if they go well then more important matches will await, but losses or dropped points could spell the end of City's quest to win the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.

Two players who will play important roles in that daunting run of fixtures, as they will in all of City's remaining games this season, are Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese duo have been two of City's best players this season and are sorely missed when not in the starting line-up.

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More than anything this international break, Guardiola will be hoping that the pair return to the City Football Academy relatively fresh and fit. But with Portugal facing a crucial World Cup play-off on Tuesday, that might be wishful thinking.

However, Italy, the European champions coached by former City boss Roberto Mancini, may have done the Blues a favour. When the draw for the European qualifiers was made, everything seemed lined up for Italy and Portugal to go head-to-head for one spot at the Qatar World Cup.

For that titanic clash to materialise, Portugal had to beat Turkey and Italy needed to see off North Macedonia. The former did but surprisingly the latter did not. The Azzurri fell 1-0 to the side ranked 67th in the world thanks to a 92nd-minute goal, meaning that they have failed to qualify for a second consecutive World Cup having fallen