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LONDON — Ruben Amorim has told Marcus Rashford he should “speak with the manager” rather than air his grievances publicly after the Manchester United forward hinted he could leave Old Trafford.

The 27-year-old was dropped by United boss Amorim for Sunday’s win at Manchester City and responded by saying he was “ready for a new challenge” in an interview on social media.

Rashford came through United’s youth ranks and has chalked up 138 goals in 426 appearances for the club since making his debut in 2016.

However, he has lost form over the last 18 months with United and was also axed from England’s Euro 2024 squad.

Rashford has scored just 15 goals in 67 appearances since signing a lucrative new contract 18 months ago, with speculation over his future increasing in recent days.

The forward, who was absent from training on Monday through illness, is set to miss the League Cup quarter-final at Tottenham on Thursday.

Amorim is keen to keep Rashford but he admitted he would have handled the situation differently when he was a player.

“If this was me, probably I will speak with the manager,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“But, guys, let’s focus on Tottenham. Tottenham is the most important thing.”

Amorim revealed he has yet to speak to Rashford since the interview that threw his United future into doubt.

“It’s hard to explain to you guys what I am going to do,” Amorim said. “I am a little bit emotional, so in the moment I will understand what to do.

“I am preparing the game and then we will see. Let’s focus on the team not individual players. That’s it.”

Amorim’s 14-minute press conference featured 16 different questions about Rashford.

It was an indication of the intense media scrutiny Amorim will have to get used to at United after arriving from Sporting Lisbon to replace the sacked Erik ten Hag in November.

“It’s a hard situation to comment on,” he said. “If I give a lot of importance, it will have big headlines in the newspaper.

“If I say it’s not a problem, then my standards are getting low. So, I will deal with that, I understand that.

“My focus is not to take the attention from the game, from the team, what we did in the last game and put on Marcus.

“What I’m saying is that the team is more important than the individual. We will assess at the right time, let’s focus on the game. That’s all.”

Amorim is determined to concentrate on the Tottenham clash despite the focus on his controversial decision to axe Rashford and Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho from the Manchester derby.

Unlike Rashford, Garnacho was pictured with the United squad heading to London for the quarter-final having reacted impressively to his exile.

“Really good, he trained really well,” Amorim said of Garnacho. “He seems a little bit upset with me and that is perfect.

“I was really, really happy because I will do the same in his position and he’s ready for this game.”

LOS ANGELES, United States — Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks silenced the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second half to win the second edition of the NBA Cup with a 97-81 victory in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player Antetokounmpo delivered a triple-double of 26 points, 19 rebounds and 10 assists along with two steals and three blocked shots for the Bucks, who drilled 17 three-pointers to complete an unbeaten run and follow in the footsteps of the Los Angeles Lakers as in-season tournament champions.

Damian Lillard scored 23 points for the Bucks, who held the potentially explosive Thunder offense to 31 points in the second half.

"That's who we are," Antetokounmpo said of the Bucks' second-half dominance, which saw them push a one-point lead at halftime to as many as 20.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 21 points, but he connected on just eight of his 24 shots from the field, two of nine from three-point range.

The triumph was a vindication for the Bucks, who were stung by the Indiana Pacers in last year's Cup semi-finals.

They were the only team from last season's semis to make it back to the final four in Vegas, beating the Orlando Magic in the quarter-finals and dispatching Atlanta in the semis.

Their Cup success has been part of a massive turnaround after a dismal 2-8 start to the season.

They have now won 13 of their last 16 games, and Antetokounmpo, who led the Bucks to the 2021 NBA title, indicated he considered it only a stepping stone.

"It's great for our team," said Antetokounmpo, who was named MVP of the tournament. "The last 15 games we've played, we've competed. We've played team basketball.

"I'm so proud of this group," he added. "Coming out of halftime we know we have 24 minutes to go, we came out in the third quarter, we set the tone. We played great team basketball."

'Not done' 

The Bucks held the Thunder to just 14 points in the third quarter -- their lowest points total in a period this season.

"Most importantly we are competing defensively," Antetokounmpo said. "That's who we are. That's who we're going to continue to be -- and the job's not done."

Unlike the rest of the Cup matches, the final doesn't count toward the regular-season record, nor do the players' performances count in their career stats.

But the trophy does come with a financial reward with each player on the winning team set to pocket more than $514,971 -- a significant chunk of money for the younger players and lesser lights on the team.

Thunder players will take home $205,988 apiece for the runner-up finish. But they'll head back to Oklahoma City disappointed with one of their worst shooting performances of the season.

The Western Conference leaders -- who went 3-1 in group play before beating Dallas in the quarter-finals and Houston in the semis -- connected on just 33.7 percent of their shots from the field and made just five of 32 -- 15.6 percent -- from three-point range.

They had emerged from a fast-paced first quarter with a 28-27 lead.

The nip-and-tuck continued in the second quarter and the tension was evident when Milwaukee's Andre Jackson Jr and Oklahoma City's Isaiah Hartenstein received matching technicals after a heated exchange.

After a first half that featured nine lead changes the Bucks led 51-50, but Milwaukee opened the third with back-to-back three-pointers from Taurean Prince and Lillard and began to roll.

BRASÍLIA — Brazil legend Ronaldo has confirmed he wants to become president of the country's football governing body to address a "deep crisis" the sport is facing nationally.

"I have hundreds of motivations, but I think the biggest of them is really to restore international respect to Brazilian football," he said in an interview on Monday with the Globoesporte website.

Ronaldo said he wanted to be an "alternative for significant change" as candidate for the job of running the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

"O Fenomeno" ("The Phenomenon"), as the 48-year-old became known over the course of his 1993-2011 career, said he wants to use the CBF presidency to help Brazil's national team to regain its glory as five-time world champions.

"The Selecao has to recover its prestige. I'll do everything so that the players understand the historic importance of playing for the national team," he said.

Ronaldo scored both goals when Brazil beat Germany in the 2002 World Cup final in Japan, and was twice winner of the Ballon d'Or.

To lodge his CBF candidacy, he needs the support of Brazilian regional clubs and federations.

To get those, he promised to travel "all around Brazil" and share the "incredible plans" he has for the sport.

The date of the next CBF election has not yet been set, but should happen between March 2025 and March 2026, according to Brazilian media.

'Much deeper problem' 

Current CBF chief Ednaldo Rodrigues has been criticized for slotting in temporary coaches for the national team after Tite's 2022 exit while waiting for Carlo Ancelotti to arrive -- something that did not happen when the Italian decided late last year to extend his contract as manager of Real Madrid.

Currently coached by Dorival Junior, the Selecao are fifth in South America qualifying for the 2026 World Cup tournament, seven points behind leaders Argentina.

"My problem is not Ednaldo. The problem is much deeper. My goal is to bring the people closer to the Selecao. Today, the people are indifferent when the Selecao plays," Ronaldo told Globoesporte.

"I am an alternative of significant change for Brazilian football, which is going through a deep crisis," he said.

Ronaldo, a former star for Barcelona, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, already has leadership experience.

In 2018, he took majority control of Spain's Real Valladolid, and in 2021 did the same for Cruzeiro, the Brazilian club where he started his career.

He sold his Cruzeiro stake in April this year.

In his interview, Ronaldo said he was in talks to "very soon" sell his Valladolid stake to avoid "any obstacle" to his CBF candidacy.

AMMAN — Hussein have a solid lead with four postponed matches left in CFI Professional Football League to conclude Leg 1 of the competition.

Top six standings shifted slightly with Wihdat second on points with Ramtha trailed by Ahli, Faisali and Salt.

Hussein and Wihdat had matches postponed due to stage 6 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Champions League (ACL) Two matches asboth Jordanian teams booked a spot in the quarterfinals.

On Tuesday, Wihdat will face Salt while Hussein play Mughayer Sarhan on December 19. The week of December 27-29 will see Wihdat vs Jazira and Aqaba vs Hussein in the last matches of Leg 1.

During the past week, Hussein beat Shabab Urdun 2-1, Wihdat beat Ramtha 4-0 to move to second, Faisali beat Mughayer Sarhan 4-1, Jazira beat Aqaba 6-2 and Ahli held Sarih 1-1 while Salt beat Ma'an 4-0 to climb to 6^th .

Salt are on a high note after they won their first ever major title when they upset Wihdat to take home the Jordan Football Association Shield Cup– the second major competition on the local football calendar.

On the other hand, Wihdat have now reached the Jordan Cup quarters  alongside Salt, Hussein, Ramtha, Ahli, Faisali, Sama Sarhan, and Mughayer Sarhan.

LOS ANGELES, United States — A dominating performance by Giannis Antetokounmpo on Sunday led the Milwaukee Bucks into the NBA Cup final, where they will face Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder for the title.

Greek star Antetokounmpo scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to spark the Bucks over the Atlanta Hawks 110-102 while Canadian guard Gilgeous-Alexander netted a game-high 32 points to lead the Thunder over Houston 111-96 in the semifinals at Las Vegas.

The Bucks and Thunder will meet for the crown on Tuesday in Las Vegas.

"I just wanted to be aggressive through all the ups and downs, highs and lows, and it paid off," said Gilgeous-Alexander. "Hopefully we can do the same thing on Tuesday.

"If we play defence, we give ourselves a chance every night. We just have to play hard, play together and have fun."

NBA scoring leader Antetokounmpo also added nine assists, four blocks and a steal while shooting 10-of-15 from the floor and 12-of-18 from the free-throw line.

"We got stops. That was the most important thing," Antetokounmpo said. "They were feeling comfortable, getting to their spots. We were able to disrupt their offence.

"We were moving the ball, playing team basketball, getting to our spots, knocking down a few shots down the stretch. That's why we were able to get the win."

The Bucks also had 25 points from Damian Lillard and 16 more from Brook Lopez while Trae Young led Atlanta with 35 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds.

"I didn't force it because Giannis was getting downhill early," Lillard said. "I was moving the ball, they were giving me a lot of attention and guys were getting open looks. I knew eventually I'd get opportunities and they would go in, and they did."

The Bucks, who made an unbeaten run to last year's inaugural semi-finals of the in-season tournament before losing to Indiana, were the only team to make a return trip to this year's last four.

"This was a big game. Redeem ourselves for last year against this great Atlanta team," Milwaukee's Khris Middleton said. "It was great. It was a back and forth game but to get a win after a tough tournament and close it out the way we did was great."

They were inspired by Antetokounmpo and his hunger after last year's Cup near-miss.

"Enjoy the game, take it a possession at a time and win the game. That's it," Antetokounmpo said on what he told his teammates. "If we compete, we'll win the game."

After a 2-8 start to the campaign, the Bucks have gone 12-3 since.

"We trust one another. We play together. There's no more hero ball," Antetokounmpo said. "In the beginning of the season we tried to do it by ourselves. It had a bad effect on the team. We figured out we have to compete as a team, move the ball as a team, compete together.

"We've changed our season around but we've got to keep going. The job is not done so far. We've got to keep playing together and hope we get better."

Two Jalen Johnson dunks late in the third quarter gave the Hawks an 83-82 lead entering the fourth.

The game stayed on a knife's edge until Antetokounmpo had six points in a 7-1 Bucks run for a 103-96 lead with 3:13 to play.

Young answered with two free throws and a jumper but Lopez scored to give Milwaukee a 105-100 edge and Lillard's floater from the free-throw line sealed Atlanta's fate.

Thunder down Rockets

Gilgeous-Alexander shot 8-of-21 from the floor, 2-of-6 from 3-point range, sank 14-of-15 free throws and added eight rebounds, six assists and five steals to spark NBA Western Conference leader Oklahoma City over Houston.

"We stayed with our principles," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We knew we would be able to get enough shots and kick it. We focused on that the whole night to give ourselves a chance and that's what happened."

The Rockets led 42-41 at half time, Houston's defence holding Oklahoma City to its lowest first-half total so far this season.

But Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points in the third quarter and the Thunder matched their largest lead to that point at 75-69 entering the fourth quarter and pulled away at the finish.

LOS ANGELES, United States  — The NBA champion Boston Celtics shrugged off the absence of All-Star Jayson Tatum, raining 20 three-pointers in a lopsided 123-99 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday.

With Tatum sidelined by a sore right knee, reserve Payton Pritchard stepped up to lead the Celtics scoring with 27 points and 10 assists as they notched a 12th straight victory over the Pistons.

Pritchard drilled seven three-pointers and reached 500 for his career -- the 10th Celtic to reach that mark.

"Payton's been awesome," NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Jaylen Brown said of Pritchard's contribution off the bench all season, which has him in the conversation for Sixth Man of the Year

"We've all seen it coming," Brown said. "We've got a lot of talent on this team and he's capable of doing that each and every night."

Derrick White also made seven from beyond the arc on the way to 23 points.

Kristaps Porzingis scored 19 and Brown chipped in 14 as six Celtics players scored in double figures.

Reserve Luke Kornet was a perfect five-for-five from the field on the way to 12 points to help the Celtics bounce back from a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday.

The Celtics improved to 20-5, one game behind the 21-4 Cleveland Cavaliers atop the Eastern Conference.

The Pistons, coming off a victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday, also got a strong contribution off the bench as Ronald Holland led Detroit's scoring with 26 points.

Cade Cunningham, who had his fifth triple-double of the season on Saturday, scored 18 points with eight rebounds and eight assists, but the Pistons connected on just seven of their 37 three-point attempts and never led after the first quarter.

In Miami, Tyler Herro scored 23 points and Bam Adebayo added 21 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Heat to a 114-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors.

Miami pushed their winning streak to four games, rallying from a 16-point deficit early in the second quarter to lead 58-51 at halftime after which they never trailed.

RJ Barrett posted a triple-double of 13 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for Toronto and Gradey Dick scored 22 points.

Miami's Jimmy Butler, the focus of trade speculation in the media this week, scored 11 points with five rebounds and four assists.

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game that the trade talk swirling around Butler wouldn't be a distraction to the player or the team.

"This is this profession," Spoelstra said. "You can't get sick at sea over some narratives that are going on out there."

The Sacramento Kings, fuelled by Domantas Sabonis' 32 points and 21 rebounds, held off the Pelicans 111-109 in New Orleans.

DeMar DeRozan added 29 points for Sacramento, who led by 14 midway through the fourth quarter only for New Orleans to slice the deficit to two on CJ McCollum's three-point play with 1:24 remaining.

The Pelicans, led by 36 points from McCollum, came up short on two ensuing possessions as the Kings held on.

TURIN - Manchester City were plunged further into crisis on Wednesday after falling to a 2-0 defeat at Juventus which threatens their chances of reaching the last 16.

Second-half goals from Dusan Vlahovic and Weston McKennie were enough for Juve to inflict a seventh defeat in 10 matches on Pep Guardiola's struggling City.

English champions City languish in 22nd place in Europe's top club competition after having collected just eight points from their six matches in the revamped league phase.

That leaves City just one point above the bottom 12 places and elimination, with matches against Paris Saint-Germain and Club Brugge remaining, a position that would have been unthinkable at the start of the season.

But City have unravelled in less than six weeks and are way off the pace both in the Premier League and Champions League thanks to just one win, over Nottingham Forest, since the end of October.

City now have the Manchester derby at the weekend, hardly the sort of fixture they need in the midst of this dismal run from.

"We have to get points, we'll go to Paris to try and do that and the same goes for the final match at home," said Guardiola to Amazon Prime in Italy.

"We can get out of this period by playing like we did today. We lost very few balls and I think we played very well... they deserve more because they give everything."

Vlahovic's header, his 10th goal of the season, and substitute McKennie's fine volley with 15 minutes remaining also snapped a frustrating four-match run of draws for Juventus and brightened the mood among fans who have been disappointed with Thiago Motta's opening few months as coach.

Juve had drawn 11 of their 20 matches in all competitions coming into Wednesday's match, but a rugged display moved them up to 11 points and ended with fans roaring with joy and colouring the stands of the Allianz Stadium with flag waving.

Juve sink City 

"The whole team played well, we did everything that we had to do. It's a fantastic result and can push us on for the rest of the season," said Vlahovic.

"We're lacking a bit of experience because we're a very young side but here at Juve there isn't time, you have to get results straight away."

Motta's team are level with fellow Serie A outfit Atalanta and two points from the top eight positions which give direct access to the last 16.

There was little suggestion of Juve grabbing such a big result after a very drab opening period in frigid Turin, where two off-form teams ineffectually bumped up against one another.

The best chance of the half came five minutes before the break when Michele Di Gregorio did well to charge down Erling Haaland as the Norway striker tried to flick home Kevin De Bruyne's neat through ball.

Juve produced even less in front in increasingly frustrated supporters, who only had a Kenan Yildiz pot shot to shout about in a largely dismal opening period for the hosts.

However, that all changed in the 53rd minute thanks to Vlahovic just about forcing his close-range header across the line after City goalkeeper Ederson had kept out Federico Gatti's flying volley.

Stunned into action, City pushed for a leveller as Juve retreated into their own box, a move reminiscent of dozens of similarly dogged Italian defensive displays.

Di Gregorio did brilliantly to keep out Ilkay Gundogan's powerful long-range effort in the 68th minute, seconds before McKennie came on for Khephren Thuram.

The American turned out to be an inspired choice as he was on hand, completely unmarked, to lash in fellow countryman Timothy Weah's deftly clipped cross and kill off City's hopes of saving a point.

LAUSANNE — FIFA on Wednesday confirmed that Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup, underlining the Gulf kingdom's growing influence in world sport.

At the same time, a virtual Congress of world football's governing body confirmed that Morocco, Spain and Portugal will be joint hosts of the 2030 World Cup, in which three games will also be played in South America.

The Saudi bid was waved through by acclamation during the meeting of FIFA's 211 national member associations, with no rivals standing in its way.

"It is a proud day, a day of celebration, a day that we invite the entire world to Saudi Arabia," said Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the Saudi Minister of Sports.

"We intend to have an extraordinary version of the World Cup in our kingdom."

FIFA had invoked its principle of rotating the World Cup between continents, which meant only bids from Asia or Oceania were welcome for 2034.

The unprecedented organisation of the 2030 tournament will involve three continental confederations in Europe, Africa and South America, while the next World Cup in 2026 -- the first involving 48 teams -- will take place across North America.

The body gave potential bidders barely a month last year to submit candidacies, and Australia and Indonesia quickly abandoned their interest.

That left Saudi Arabia as the sole candidate, clearing the way for the World Cup to return to the Gulf region so soon after Qatar hosted in 2022.

 'Centenary celebration' 

The 2030 tournament will mark a century since the first World Cup was held in Uruguay, and as a result the unrivalled joint bid by Morocco, Spain and Portugal will also see the South American nation handed one game along with Argentina and Paraguay.

FIFA confirmed over a year ago that the joint proposal led by Morocco, Spain and Portugal was the sole contender for 2030, with all other potential candidacies having fallen by the wayside.

Four South American countries launched a joint bid in 2019, convinced that the centenary World Cup should entirely take place on the same continent where it all began.

Meanwhile, Morocco replaced Ukraine as a partner for Spain and Portugal, while South America agreed to step aside in exchange for hosting three games.

Following these "centenary celebrations" in the southern hemisphere winter, the six teams involved will cross the Atlantic to play the rest of the tournament.

Spain, which hosted the 1982 World Cup, should be the centrepiece as it boasts 11 of the 20 proposed stadiums.

Morocco -- after failing on five previous occasions to be awarded the staging of the tournament -- will become the second African nation to host the competition after South Africa in 2010.

Potential venues for the July 21 final include the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid and Barcelona's renovated Camp Nou as well as the planned Hassan II stadium between Casablanca and Rabat, set to boast a capacity of 115,000.

AMMAN — The 69th edition of the CFI Basketball League tips off on Thursday with seven clubs taking part.

Holders Ahli and veterans Orthodoxi join a field of relative newcomers to the league headed by Amman United, Jubeiha, Ashrafieh, Jalil and Shabab Bushra. Following the end of the first round on January 31, the top four will advance to Round 3 while the rest battle for two spots to join the top four.  The final playoffs are slated to end by May 21.

The league will halt for a month to allow the national team’s Window 3, Group D matches against Saudi Arabia and Iraq in February 2025 although Jordan has already booked its spot to the 31st FIBA Asia Cup 2025 after beating Palestine 87-81, Iraq 73-64 in Window 2 which came after two wins over Palestine 73-46 and Saudi Arabia 79-64 in Window 1.

The Kingdom, 2023 Asian Games silver medalist and three-time qualifier to the World Cup, 2010, 2019 and 2023 will be playing the FIBA Asia Cup for the 17th time, with their best position runner-up in 2011. 

The local basketball scene was disrupted last season with only 3 clubs contesting the League which led the Jordan Basketball Federation temporary committee to suspend the season.

In the last season played in 2022/2023, coach Mu’tasem Salameh who had earlier guided Wihdat to the 2022 title, joined Ahli midway through the season and secured their 25th title.  Record 25 time holders Ahli, who had disbanded the team for over a decade, came back to win the Jordan Cup in 2018, and have since also won the league four times in the past six seasons after the title had eluded them since 1994. 

Orthodoxi were runner-up last season and their 23rd title was in 2014-15. They won the Jordan Cup in 2022. 

Jubeiha and Amman United join teams from Irbid - Ashrafieh, Jalil and Shabab Bushra – as newcomers to the league, while two major teams are missing the competition: Former champs Wihdat have not regrouped the team after they were suspended by the JBF in 2022 over regulations and age-division requirements after they won their first won the title  in 2019, and again in 2021/22. 

Similarly, Riyadi-Aramex who won the league in 2015/16 and 2016/17, 20 years after they first won in 1997 under then Jazira-Aramex have disbanded their senior team.

The Basketball League which started in 1952 has had eight teams crowned champion. It was not played in four seasons and discontinued once. Ahli have won 25 times, Orthodoxi 23, Zain (Fastlink) 6, ASU 4, Wihdat, Riyadi and Jazira-Aramex twice, while Urdun, Watany and the Electricity Co. won once each. Teams like former league and cup champs Applied Science University, Ittihad, and Zain have pulled out of the competition.

The Jordan Cup has seen Fastlink winning the most titles in four consecutive seasons (2003-04-05-06) before they played and won under Zain in 2008, Ahli won four times (2018-19-20-21), Riyadi won three times in (2002- 2011- 2012), ASU ( 2010- 2013- 2014) and Orthodoxi (2007-2015-2022).

MANCHESTER, United Kingdom  — Manchester City's malaise leaves the English champions in the unusual position of fretting over qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League ahead of a tricky trip to Italian giants Juventus.

City have won just once in their past nine games in all competitions, with an injury crisis and a loss of form for some of their biggest stars leading to the worst run of Pep Guardiola's managerial career.

Despite a 4-1 humbling by Sporting Lisbon and an embarrassing collapse from 3-0 up to draw 3-3 against Feyenoord, they are still in a position to qualify from the new league-phase format.

They sit 17th in the 36-team table, with a top-24 finish enough to secure a place in the playoff round at the least.

However, their chances of direct entry to the last 16 by finishing in the top eight look slim, with another difficult trip to Paris Saint-Germain to come in January before a home game against Club Brugge.

The Champions League is even more significant for City this season with their Premier League title defence seemingly in tatters.

After an unprecedented four consecutive English top-flight titles, the champions, in fourth place, trail Liverpool by eight points and Arne Slot's men also have a game in hand.

City have often hit top form down the home straight to win the league during Guardiola's six title successes in the past seven seasons.

This time the mood music around the Etihad is different, with injuries among an ageing squad taking a heavy toll.

"The season starts difficult, it will be difficult all season," said Guardiola after his side's latest stumble in a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace on Saturday.

"We have to survive the season, every game, try to take points, to try to win games and go forward."

City squad 'not enough' 

Ballon d'Or winner Rodri is the biggest miss and is unlikely to return again this season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September.

John Stones, Nathan Ake, Mateo Kovacic and Oscar Bobb are also sidelined for the trip to Turin, while Kevin De Bruyne, Ruben Dias and Phil Foden are among the big names to have missed significant chunks of the campaign so far.

"If the squad is this short then it is always so difficult for all the players to play three days after three days," said midfielder Bernardo Silva.

"With a squad of 20 players, if you only have 13 available, it is not good enough."

City have little time to lick their wounds, with 12 games in 50 days between the Juventus clash and the end of the league phase on January 29.

"The doctors and physios are working incredible this season like never before I have ever seen but the reality is we have few players to rotate in this period," said Guardiola. "This season will be like this.

"Don't feel sorry, accept the challenge and maybe at the end we will have more satisfaction about the way we behave than in other seasons when we won the titles."

The hope for City is that they could yet be Champions League contenders if their medical room empties and they find their customary form come the decisive spell of the season in the spring.

Just one win from their final three games will almost certainly guarantee qualification.

All three of their opponents to come are below them in the table, with Juventus themselves on a four-game winless run and floundering in sixth place in Serie A.

City need to look back just two years for inspiration. Defeats to Brentford, Southampton, Manchester United and Tottenham in the winter months of the 2022/23 campaign had Guardiola questioning whether the hunger had gone from his squad after feasting on silverware for so long.

A few months later, they lifted the treble, including the club's only Champions League to date.