Tuesday 23 February 2016 17:54, UK
Eliaquim Mangala has handed Manchester City a huge boost ahead of their Champions League last-16 clash with Dynamo Kiev by returning to full fitness.
The defender has been missing since January 6 with a hamstring injury but he returned to full training this week and is line to feature in the first leg at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium on Wednesday.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini rested nine first-team players as his side were dumped out of the FA Cup fifth-round exit by Chelsea on Sunday but did so to field his strongest possible side in Kiev.
And he said: "We have similar squad that we played in the last Premier League game - the only player that has recovered is Mangala.
"We had to make a difficult decision against Chelsea but it was the only choice we could make in this moment because we had just 13 players.
"We had to take a chance but this is absolutely different - we will try to continue knowing we have a difficult game tomorrow.
"The important thing is the performance. It's the first 90 minutes of a 180 minute match, no matter what happens, it's not over tomorrow."
Manchester City will play in-front of as many as 70,000 people on Wednesday after the previous stadium ban, imposed by UEFA for racist behaviour, was lifted last month.
Pellegrini said: "One of the worst things you can do is play in an empty stadium without fans. In this case, fans of Kiev have a lesson about what happened.
"For me, I know maybe for the home team it's not advantage to play without fans, but for football it's important.
"I hope in this case it will be a lesson for these fans and tomorrow we have a normal game."
