Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov was reportedly delayed in arriving at the team hotel ahead of their Champions League clash against Real Madrid because of a visa issue.
The 20-year-old was seen entering the Cityzen’s hotel in the Spanish capital at 12.40am by the cameras of Spanish programme El Chiringuito, despite the Uzbekistan star making Guardiola’s squad list.
The hosts of the show questioned whether the player was ‘okay’, but noted that he looked in good health and ‘arrived safely’.
However, it has now been claimed by the Spanish outlet that Khusanov’s unusual arrival time was due to issues over his visa.
The young defender is yet to feature in Guardiola’s European side after his £33million January move, but has been a consistent fixture since arriving from Lens during last month’s transfer window.
The defender started Man City’s weekend tie, facing off against Newcastle in their romping 4-0 victory at the Etihad.
Manchester City defender Abdukodir Khusanov was seen entering the Cityzen’s hotel in the Spanish capital at 12.40am
The 20-year-old is expected to make his first European appearance for Pep Guardiola’s side on Wednesday night
Guardiola said that the team’s chance of earning a place in the last 16 was just ‘one per cent’
Further reports have suggested that Khusanov’s journey was complicated by the UK’s exit from the European Union and the Schengen area, resulting in issues for him travelling to Spain with his Uzbekistan passport.
According to Footboom, he was required to fly privately to Greece and was then able to enter the Spanish capital.
Pep Guardiola’s side are facing an unthinkable second-half of the season without European football after stuttering form in their league phase of the top-flight competition.
Man City were then drawn against Spanish giants Real for their play-off tie, and must claw their way back from a one-goal deficit after a 3-2 defeat at the Etihad last week.
Erling Haaland’s brace was not enough to give the hosts the upper hand on home soil with Jude Bellingham netting the late winner to hand the advantage to Carlo Ancelotti’s players.
Victory at the Bernabeu will ensure a place in the round of 16 – but in his press conference on Tuesday evening, Guardiola said that the team’s chance of earning one was just ‘one per cent’.
‘You have to make an almost perfect game,’ Guardiola said. ‘We have to play with courage, to be ourselves. We have to play to win the game. The pressure is there, it’s more than welcome.
If you don’t perform well with the pressure, it is what it is. It depends how we play, how we handle the big moments in these stadiums.’
But in a positive boost for his side, Guardiola confirmed that Haaland, who suffered a knee injury scare late in Saturday’s defeat of Newcastle, trained as normal ahead of the game.
Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake, who were all absent at the weekend, were also involved.
