Guardiola reveals most 'angry' moment as Walker joins Man City injury list following England duty

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Kyle Walker joined Manchester City’s injury list after coming back from England duty with a knee problem and will miss the home match against Sparta Prague in the Champions League on Wednesday.

For Pep Guardiola, this is nothing new.

The City manager said on Tuesday he never felt as angry as near the end of last season when Walker and fellow City and England defender John Stones returned from the international break with injuries sustained in friendlies.

It forced them out of key games for City in the Premier League title run-in and a quarterfinal meeting with Real Madrid in the Champions League. City was ousted by Madrid on penalties after back-to-back draws.

“I never was so angry like that moment — never ever before was I so disappointed,” Guardiola said.

“It was a friendly game. We were playing in the quarterfinals against Madrid, and in the Premier League to win it. For a friendly game, two players came back injured,” Guardiola added, before tutting. “I didn't like it at all.”

England played two Nations League group games in the recent international break. Walker was an unused substitute in the first — a 2-1 loss to Greece — and played the full game in the 3-1 win in Finland on Oct. 13.

“Before when I was a football player, the manager of the national team called the managers from the clubs. Now nobody talks about how (the players) feel, how they are,” Guardiola said.

“I know,” he added, “they don’t want to get injured. Always I encourage them to go to the national team. It’s a pleasure. But when there is a friendly game, you cannot come back injured. I’m sorry.”

Rodri, Oscar Bobb and Kevin De Bruyne are currently the other absentees for City.

De Bruyne is the closest to returning and is back in training, but Guardiola said the midfielder still doesn’t feel right after sustaining a groin injury against Inter Milan in the Champions League on Sept. 18.

With De Bruyne now 33 and often troubled by injuries, Guardiola said he wasn’t willing to take any risks with the Belgium playmaker.

“It’s not a big issue but he doesn’t feel completely fine,” Guardiola said. “Kevin is not 22 years old anymore, he has to be fit for his football. He has to be completely fit and he doesn’t feel comfortable so he cannot express his incredible potential at his best. He said to me, ‘I still don’t feel good.’ So take your time.”

City has four points from its first two games in the group stage of the revamped Champions League after drawing with Inter 0-0 and beating Slovan Bratislava 4-0.

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England's Angel Gomes, left, and Kyle Walker, right, challenge for the ball with Matti Peltola of Finland during the UEFA Nations League soccer match between Finland and England, at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP)

England's John Stones and Kyle Walker, right, during a training session at the Tottenham Hotspur Training Ground, London, Saturday Oct. 12, 2024. (Adam Davy/PA via AP)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola gestures during the English Premier League soccer match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester City at the Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Rui Vieira)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola attends the press conference, a day before the Champions League soccer match against Sparta Praha, at the City Football Academy in Manchester, England, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola attends the press conference, a day before the Champions League soccer match against Sparta Praha, at the City Football Academy in Manchester, England, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)