Man City Captain Vincent Kompany Set to Miss Showdown With Liverpool After Knock on Belgium Duty

Pep Guardiola confirmed that captain Vincent Kompany will not play for Manchester City against Liverpool on Saturday due to a calf injury picked up whilst playing for Belgium.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Guardiola spoke of his disappointment at his skipper being unable to feature, following his sustained long-term battle to maintain his fitness.

"He played with Belgium against Gibraltar", said Guardiola. "They won 9-0. He had a little problem in his calf. I think he will not be able for tomorrow.

"His absence will be short. The next time he will be able to play. I'm sad. I would like him to be fit.

"He made a huge effort, our physios worked a lot to take care of him, so the last seven, eight, nine games of the season he played without a problem for 90 minutes. Now was the period of three games a week and unfortunately we lose him. We will try to recover as soon as possible."

Despite Guardiola's willingness to bring in another centre-back, another player was not brought in during the latter weeks of the transfer window. Nevertheless, the ex-Bayern Munich and Barcelona manager was confident his squad would manage without their captain.

"The window is over. With Vincent or without Vincent, we thought maybe we need another one. But we have [Eliaquim] Mangala, we have Tosin [Adarabioyo] and of course there are other options and other players that can play in that position."