Why is torres eligible for champions league

City dominated the first half but had only one goal to show for it. A better team than Olympiakos might have cashed in on a second 45 minutes that Guardiola's side allowed to drift, and it wasn't until Jesus' goal nine minutes from time that the game was made safe.

The City manager said he would not look ahead to Liverpool before picking his team to face Olympiakos, but it will not hurt that his first-choice spine of Aymeric Laporte , Ruben Dias and Rodri got the night off. The Spaniard won't be thrilled with a sloppy second-half performance, but City still did enough, kept another clean sheet and can now turn their attention to Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool.

GK Ederson , 7 -- Did well to get his body behind a deflected effort from Youssef El-Arabi in the second half to keep the score at DF Kyle Walker , 7 -- Created the first chance of the night with a sprint to the byline and a drilled cross into Torres.

DF Oleksandr Zinchenko , 6 -- Looked a little rusty but only to be expected in just his second start since returning from injury. DF Nathan Ake , 6 -- Back in the team after injury. Had very little to do in the first half but El-Arabi caused the defence problems after the break. DF John Stones , 6 -- Picked from the start for the first time since the first game of the season at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Did his best to organise from the back and will be happy with the clean sheet. MF Ilkay Gundogan , 6 -- Might have done better with a couple of efforts on goal and will be disappointed to lose control of the midfield during Olympiakos' good spell in the second half. MF Phil Foden , 6 -- Got away with a loose pass towards Stones in his own penalty area that should have been punished by Mathieu Valbuena.

Only Mbappe has more over the same period. FW Raheem Sterling , 6 -- Struggled to create much and didn't get a sight of goal as Olympiakos kept him in check. FW Riyad Mahrez , 5 -- The Algeria international had a quiet night and was replaced midway through the second half as Guardiola tried to use his substitutions to gain more control. Please update your billing information. The subscription details associated with this account need to be updated.

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The year-old suffered the injury in Spain's Nations League semi-final victory over Italy but managed to play through the pain for 84 minutes in the defeat by France in the final. Scans conducted upon Torres' return to Manchester revealed a small fracture, and Guardiola suggested it could be a long wait before he plays again. Guardiola considers Spain boss Luis Enrique blameless, saying he had full trust in his former Barcelona team-mate.

I know perfectly Luis Enrique, he treats all the players as good as possible," Guardiola said. They try to take care, sometimes it happens. He will spend a few weeks in Spain and then come back and recover hopefully in two, three months. Guardiola said he was "delighted" Oleksandr Zinchenko and Ilkay Gundogan had recovered from knocks and were back in training, ahead of the home game against Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday. However, Brazil internationals Ederson and Gabriel Jesus will miss the Burnley game, having been on World Cup qualification duty with their national team late on Thursday.

Torres is now certain to miss a long stretch of games, including the first Manchester derby of the season at Old Trafford on November 6, and seemingly the rest of City's Champions League group games.

It is bad luck for a player who enjoyed a fruitful start to the season, having been converted into a centre-forward by Guardiola. Torres leads City in the Premier League this season for goals two, level with Jesus , minutes per goal With Torres and Jesus absent in the short term, Guardiola will have to look elsewhere for central attacking options.

Foden and De Bruyne are not natural forwards, despite both players regularly being deployed in a false nine role. The recent history of the New York Knicks is littered with abysmal play, a never-ending coaching carousel and a general lack of excitement for a fanbase starved for a winner.

But all that can be forgotten now that Madison Square Garden is rocking again in support of a team on the rise with a chance to make noise in the NBA playoffs. After ending a seven-year playoff drought in a surprising first season under head coach Tom Thibodeau in , New York is eager for more and might have enough to warrant the newfound optimism surrounding the franchise.

While the Knicks' first postseason appearance since was a short one — a first-round loss to the Atlanta Hawks — it signalled a rebirth for a franchise that had a league-worst. A record last season was New York's best since they went in and those 41 wins surpassed their total from the two previous campaigns combined Maybe that record can be at least partly attributed to a fluky, COVID riddled campaign where the Knicks caught opponents by surprise, but a home record and a mark against the Eastern Conference shouldn't be overlooked.

Thibodeau was clearly the main catalyst for the reversal, bringing his trademark defence to a team that ranked 17th in opponent scoring Besides the obvious difference in the on-court product, Thibodeau brought instant credibility to a franchise that employed six different coaches since the playoff appearance.

While team defence and the superb play of Julius Randle carried the Knicks last season, an offensive injection was needed to take the next step. Bringing in the starting backcourt of Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier has made the Knicks a more dangerous perimeter shooting team after Atlanta exposed New York's glaring lack of scoring depth in the playoffs. In the five-game loss to the Hawks, the Knicks failed to break points in the final three games and shot just That wasn't a surprise considering New York ranked 26th last season in scoring Walker is a four-time All-Star who has been one of the NBA's most consistent point producers over the past decade.

The Charlotte Hornets' all-time leading scorer, Walker averaged at least 20 points in five straight seasons from to before slipping to Fournier was acquired in a sign-and-trade with the Celtics after spending the bulk of his career with the Orlando Magic. He has shot at least 40 percent from three-point range in three separate seasons, including knocking down Fournier is averaging The three-point shot has become a much bigger part of the Knicks' arsenal compared to last season.

After taking 30 three-point attempts per game last season, the Knicks have put up 38 threes per contest so far in That plus-eight increase is by far the biggest of any team this year with the Minnesota Timberwolves 6. The volume of three-pointers has led to an offense that is averaging