Manchester City On International Duty: Euro 2020 Qualifiers – Matchday 1

Following last week’s entertaining fixtures, which saw Manchester City advance to the UEFA Champions League Quarter-finals and FA Cup Semi-finals, several Blues will embark on a journey to compete with their respective national teams in the first international break of 2019.

First, the European continent. After the success of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, most of City’s squad will compete in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Kyle Walker, John Stones, Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph were recalled to the England national team, where they will face the Czech Republic and Montenegro in qualification Group A. Elsewhere in Group A, Arijanet Muric and Kosovo face Denmark in an international friendly and will then take on Bulgaria.

Meanwhile, Bernardo Silva’s Portugal and Oleksandr Zinchenko’s Ukraine will go head to head in Group B. The City teammates will face each other on Matchday 1. Following what is expected to be an exciting encounter, Portugal will then face Serbia on Matchday 2 whilst Ukraine travel to Luxembourg.

Leroy Sané and İlkay Gündoğan will compete for Germany in Group C, where they face Serbia in an international friendly before taking on the Netherlands on Matchday 1. Unlike England, Portugal, Ukraine and Kosovo, who won their respective UEFA Nations League groups and will advance to at least the Euro 2020 qualification playoffs, Germany were relegated from their UEFA Nations League - League A Group 1, and thus must qualify for Euro 2020 directly.

Outside of Europe, several of City’s players will compete in a series of international friendlies.

Danlio, Ederson and Gabriel Jesus will join Brazil, where they face Panama and the Czech Republic. Nicolás Otamendi and Argentina will take on Venezuela and Morocco.

Finally, on the African continent, Riyad Mahrez and Algeria face Gambia in the final match of the African Cup of Nations Qualification Group D, albeit they have already qualified for the tournament. Algeria will then face Tunisia in an international friendly.

Claudio Bravo, Vincent Kompany, Kevin De Bruyne and Fernandinho remain injured and will not travel on international duty.

Sergio Agüero, Aymeric Laporte, Eliaquim Mangala and Benjamin Mendy were not recalled to their respective national teams.