Image via - @NathanAke/ X

Nathan Ake Injury: What happened to Nathan Ake? Latest update on Man City’s star defender

Nathan Ake picked up an injury in their 3-1 FA Cup victory against Plymouth.

Image via - @NathanAke/ X

Dutch International and Manchester City defender Nathan Ake has picked up an injury in their 3-1 FA Cup victory against Plymouth. After starting the game for City, Ake was replaced by Ruben Dias in the second half.

City head coach Pep Guardiola in the post-game interview said that they will Ake will be out for a long time. The Spanish manager also expressed being grateful for the new defensive signings Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov in January.

He told reporters: “Now again we have a central defender out for a long time, I think we’ll miss Nathan. I’m so grateful to the club for bringing [Abdukodir] Khusanov and Vitor [Reis] otherwise we have no chance to qualify for the Champions League next season or fight for the FA Cup. Impossible! We would just have [Ruben] Dias.”

Ake, 30, who started eight games for City in the current Premier League season, is likely to miss the remainder of the season. Judging from Guardiola’s comments, he will have to rely on the other defensive options and the new signings.

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The reigning Premier League champions are in a deep hole this season with FA Cup being their only bet to a title this season. After a comfortable victory over Plymouth thanks to Nico O’Reilly’s brace, City cruised into the quarter-finals of the competition.

The Citizens manager went into the game making 11 changes as he reflected on the competition. He talked about respecting Plymouth as he said:

“I don’t take for granted the difficulty when you play an incredibly organised team”, Guardiola said.

“It’s not a surprise what they have done against Liverpool. It’s difficult to challenge them because they are incredibly organised defensively”, he added.

City, who has had a season way below their standards, will chase the FA Cup as their only silverware option. They are currently fourth in the Premier League, 20 points behind leaders Liverpool, and have been eliminated from both the Champions League and the Carabao Cup. If City fails to win the FA Cup, it could mark Guardiola’s first trophyless season since 2017-18.

Manchester City

Nathan Ake

Pep Guardiola

Mayur Dedwal

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I’m a Sports Content Writer with expertise in football. Being a decade old football enthusiast and part-time coach, I try to bring to life to the articles in a statistical manner. Being around all kinds of sports updates and able to put in my perspective’s to the happenings in the world of football are few of the many things i like in doing what i do. You can find me playing Sunday leagues or Xbox on weekends!