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Sky Blue News: International Roundup, MCWFC Bow Out, Carson Time, and More...

The Blues are headed back to Manchester... For better and worse.

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Spain v Georgia - 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier Photo by Berengui/DeFodi Images via Getty Images

Wednesday was eventful for Manchester City. Let’s jump into the headliens and see what went down,

TORRES SEALS SPAIN WIN AS SCORING RUN CONTINUES - John Edwards - ManCity.com

Ferran scores again as the rest of the Sky Blues make it through the break in good form.

Torres, who won his 20th cap at the Pristina City Stadium, has now scored four goals in his last four appearances for club and country and is the first player to net six times in a calendar year for Spain since David Silva hit seven in 2017.

Both he and Aymeric Laporte completed 90 minutes for La Roja, who also had Pablo Fornals on target, whilst Rodrigo was an unused substitute.

Ilkay Gundogan also had reason to celebrate on Wednesday evening.

City’s No.8 played the entire 90-minutes as Germany eased to a 4-0 win over Iceland to retain their place at the top of Group J, but it proved a frustrating night for Oleksandr Zinchenko and City’s England quartet, with Ukraine and the Three Lions both denied victory with stoppage time equalisers.

Brazilian FA asks FIFA to block Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City, Leeds and Chelsea from selecting Brazilian players from September 10-14 - Sky Sports

City could be without the services of Ederson and Gabby unless the PL and FA can convince FIFA to relent.

The players who were not released for the World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Peru are Raphinha of Leeds, Manchester United’s Fred, Thiago Silva at Chelsea, Manchester City’s Ederson and Gabriel Jesus, as well as Alisson, Roberto Firmino and Fabinho at Liverpool.

It would mean Fred and Thiago Silva would also be ineligible for Manchester United’s visit to Young Boys and Chelsea’s clash with Zenit St Petersburg in the Champions League on the Tuesday.

The Football Association has also been contacted by FIFA regarding the matter. FIFA remain in talks with the FA and UK government to get the ban on quarantine exemptions lifted.

No Ederson and no Zack Steffen for Man City this weekend, you know what that means... - Colin Cranmer - City Report

The upside could be that everyone’s favorite third keeper might get another Premier League start for City.

This of course means that the lovable squad member that is Scott Carson will surely make his return in between the sticks for the Premier League Champions this Saturday. The thirty six year-old Champions League winner was surprisingly, even to himself, selected to start in goal against Newcastle towards the end of last season’s campaign. Despite conceding three times the veteran did save a penalty, and light-heartedly blamed his team for not helping him keep a clean sheet in the dressing room after the game, as revealed in Manchester City’s latest documentary ‘Together’.

This Saturday’s trip to Leicester is of course much more significant than that 4-3 victory over Newcastle last season, with the Premier League title already wrapped up at that stage. City boss Pep Guardiola will be desperate for the three points, as this season’s title race is set to heat up over the next few weeks and months. Scott Carson will have to unexpectedly step up for the blues and roll back the years (or decades) - the former England international will have the backing of his team-mates and the away support on Saturday - fingers crossed he is still a safe pair of hands and his team-mates actually help him out this time in getting City a third clean sheet in a row.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE HEARTBREAK FOR CITY - Caroline Oatway - ManCity.com

A heartbreaker for the Women's side as their time in the WUCL comes to an end for 2021.

Half-time substitute Ellen White almost found one within ten minutes, collecting Maria Isabel Rodriguez Rivero’s loose pass and cutting back for Caroline Weir to roll into an empty net. The Scotland international had not anticipated the pass though and could not make the crucial connection.

Real went close to doubling their advantage on the night, trying her luck from distance and drilling just wide, while Athenea also skewed wide of the mark.

City were desperately unlucky not to equalise on 64 minutes, as Raso thundered a powerful attempt off the crossbar, and White clipped a Hemp delivery wrong side of the post.

Heartbreak for Man City Women as Champions League campaign ended early by Real Madrid - Daniel Murphy - Manchester Evening News

City kept pressing for the equalizer, but it wasn’t to be.

Just like in the first leg, in which they had taken the lead and then let it slip in the final minutes, City will come away from the game wondering how they have not won.

The opening stages of the match were cagey, but City soon started to dominate the ball and pile the pressure on the Madrid back-line. Frustratingly, nothing landed their way.

New arrivals Hayley Raso and Bunny Shaw were playing at home for the first time and both were showing how dangerous they can be in attack, with Australian winger Raso proving to be a menace down the right. She had the first chance of the game when the ball landed at her feet at the edge of the box but her shot was deflected and looped out for a goal kick.

Another new signing, Vicky Losada, then had a chance to set Raso through down the right but her ball was short and easily cut out. Minutes later they did manage to link up, with Raso’s cross being cut out just as Lauren Hemp was closing in. The subsequent corner saw captain Steph Houghton rise highest but her glancing header was a whisker wide of the post.

Manchester City Found a Killer Striker in Khadija Shaw - Emmanuel Odey - Bitter and Blue

Bunny has impressed in her short time with City. Emmanuel reminds of the accolades she brought with her to England.

After excelling with French Division 1 Feminine side Bordeaux, there was only one direction to go. Up. Manchester City swooped for the player and it’s already proving to be a great addition to the team.

Khadija emerged top scorer in the French league last term, beating even the star strikers paraded by Paris Saint-Germain and Lyon who are the dominant sides in the division.

Winning the Golden Boot earned her a place in the team of the season and rightfully so. She was the only player in the group not representing the top two teams.

A look at her numbers show just why. With 31 goals in 33 appearances for Bordeaux, those numbers associated with the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haland in the men’s game.

She is not just producing in club football. Having netted 42 goals in 30 matches for Jamaica, she is already the leading scorer for her country whether male or female. And she is still just 24.

Reports: Manchester City monitoring AC Milan left-back Theo Hernandez - Nabeel - City Report

A new name on the transfer landscape is connected to MCFC.

The report states that Pep Guardiola’s side are closely monitoring the fullback, who is, according to the information, rated at £68million – which would top the record defensive signing at the club in Ruben Dias from Benfica for roughly £65million. Nicolas Otamendi was bought by the Portuguese side for around £13.7million.

On the 6th of September, Italian outlet calciomercato.com mentioned City and PSG as being interested in the player, whose contract expires in 2024, meaning he would only have two years left on his deal next summer – potentially lowering his price.

However, given calciomercato.com’s lack of reliability, the claims were quickly dismissed, but given Blackburn’s reputation, it would appear the club are indeed monitoring Hernandez, who will turn 24 next month.

Fullback FC: Manchester City Linked with Theo Hernandez - Saul Garcia - Bitter and Blue

And finally, Saul isn’t sure that City’s reported interested will find the right back coming to the Etihad.

Links in Italy and in England have confirmed that the value of the player is at £68M by AC Milan. A fairly high valuation.

City would not pay that much and could look to knock off some of that with player swap or other machinations.

This one seems unlikely to me, City had allegedly a chance at Nuno Mendes for a modest price and chose not to so this seems far fetched to me. That is a high fee and of he plays well for Milan and they contend in Serie A and UCL we could see that fee rise substantially.

That’s all for today. Come on back tomorrow as we set our sites on the Foxes right here at Sky Blue News!