Orlando, June 26 (IANS) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed Claudio Echeverri will be out for at least a fortnight after injuring his ankle in the 6-0 group stage win over Al Ain at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The young Argentine forward scored a superb free-kick against the UAE side, but seems unlikely to feature in the remainder of the Club World Cup.

“He has some problems with his ankle. It will be two or three weeks out, unfortunately. I feel so sorry for him, for all of us. We’re going to play new players in the next game too, yeah. And in the second half too, I make the selection tomorrow, the line-up, thinking of the second half.

“With these conditions we’re not ready to play in the rhythm we’re playing for 90 minutes. Hopefully we can make more substitutions but it’s fine,” Guardiola said in a press conference ahead of their last group game.

Manchester City will go head-to-head with Juventus, looking to top Group G. Both teams have both already booked their place in the Round of 16 and their Orlando showdown will decide who tops the group, with Guardiola’s side needing a win if they are to reach the summit and secure a meeting with the Group H runners-up at the same venue on Monday.

Guardiola was also asked if Rodri was ready to make his first start since injuring his ACL against Arsenal last season. “Rodri, yeah he can play, of course not for 90 minutes but the last 30 or 35 minutes. He’s been making a step forward in the last three or four days. He didn’t have some problems and niggles, you sometimes have. We’re happy we could add minutes to him,” he said.

–IANS

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