Man City must omit new signing for Champions League knockouts

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola faces a selection headache as he will need to leave out one of the club’s January signings from the Champions League knockout stages ahead of Thursday’s deadline.

City, amid a prolonged run of poor form, spent €210 million ($219m) last month on forward Omar Marmoush, midfielder Nico González and defenders Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis.

Clubs must inform UEFA of their 25-man squad for the knockout stages by 11 p.m. GMT on Thursday (6 p.m. E.T.), however each club can only make three changes from their league phase squad. It means City must leave at least out one of their four new signings.

City face Real Madrid in the playoff stage, with the opening leg at the Etihad scheduled for Feb. 11 and a return leg at the Bernabéu set for Feb. 19.

It is the fourth consecutive season that City and Madrid will face off in the Champions League knockout stages. Last season, they drew both legs before the Spanish giants eventually progressed after winning penalties and went on to lift the title against Borussia Dortmund. The year before, City won 5-1 on aggregate in the semifinals before beating Inter Milan in the final to complete a historic treble.