{"id":8380,"date":"2026-05-14T14:40:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=8380"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:40:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T14:40:29","slug":"i-was-surprised-as-well-josko-gvardiol-lifts-lid-on-man-city-injury-return-vs-crystal-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=8380","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I was surprised as well&#8217; \u2013 Josko Gvardiol lifts lid on Man City injury return vs Crystal Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_01dda3\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol made his first appearance since breaking his leg against Chelsea in January<\/h2>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"33943579\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Josko Gvardiol made his return for Manchester City in the victory over Crystal Palace\" loading=\"eager\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 508px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/article33943579.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_GettyImages-2276065287.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/article33943579.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s508\/0_GettyImages-2276065287.jpg 508w, https:\/\/i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/article33943579.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_GettyImages-2276065287.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/article33943579.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_GettyImages-2276065287.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Josko Gvardiol made his return for Manchester City in the victory over Crystal Palace\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Josko Gvardiol made his return for Manchester City in the victory over Crystal Palace<cite aria-label=\"Image: Naomi Baker\/Getty Images\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: Naomi Baker\/Getty Images)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Josko Gvardiol admitted he only discovered he was starting for Manchester City a couple of hours before kick-off against Crystal Palace on Wednesday night. The Croatia international had been missing since breaking his tibia in a 1-1 draw with Chelsea in January.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The injury threatened to rule Gvardiol out for the remainder of the campaign. However, the 24-year-old recovered well and was handed a surprise start at left-back as Nico O&#8217;Reilly was rested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Gvardiol lasted 58 minutes and performed well as the Blues cruised to a 3-0 victory over Palace. While the win was most important, Gvardiol was delighted to be back on the pitch.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\"><em>Click here to find out the latest Manchester City news in our daily newsletter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;To be fair I was surprised as well,&#8221; he told City&#8217;s official website post-match. &#8220;I didn\u2019t expect my name in the starting XI. I found out two or three hours before kick-off. You have to be ready.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I\u2019m happy to be back and happy to be in the starting XI. We all know we have three games left. Happy to be back and get some minutes. I would say it\u2019s normal. I\u2019m getting older and more experienced than a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I took it as a man and tried to play as simple as I can. It was close. It would be too unreal to score a goal in my first game back from injury. Maybe in the next one. It hasn\u2019t been easy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;After I got injured I just accepted it as a new challenge. I\u2019m just glad to be back. I\u2019m feeling good actually. I wouldn\u2019t say I\u2019m at my 100 per cent. It\u2019s normal, I need minutes and games.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"AffiliateContentsEmbed_affiliate-contents-container__oTiet\" data-testid=\"affiliate-contents-embed\">\n<div data-testid=\"affiliate-content\" class=\"AffiliateContent_affiliate-content-container__10EX_ affiliate-content\">\n<p>FA Cup final VIP tickets for Man City vs Chelsea<\/p>\n<div class=\"AffiliateDisclaimer_affiliate-disclaimer__dG5ST\">\n<div class=\"AffiliateDisclaimer_affiliate-text__8nmDa\">This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"AffiliateContent_section-container__JMDzM AffiliateContent_content-details__U6C2M AffiliateContent_has-content-img___LY95\">\n<div class=\"AffiliateContent_section-content__QCkL9\">\n<div class=\"AffiliateContent_content-image__FxPNL\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Content Image\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.manchestereveningnews.co.uk\/article33690914.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s510b\/0_Untitled-1jpeg.jpg\"\/><\/div>\n<div class=\"AffiliateContent_content-price-details__OpMC_\">\n<p>Various Prices<\/p>\n<p>Seat Unique<\/p>\n<p>Book tickets here<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"AffiliateContent_section-container__JMDzM\">\n<div id=\"product-description\" class=\"AffiliateContent_section-content__QCkL9\">\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Seat Unique offers hospitality packages for Manchester City&#8217;s FA Cup final clash with <!-- -->Chelsea<!-- -->including &#8216;premium&#8217; seats at Wembley and complimentary food and drink.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Last Friday, Pep Guardiola was asked about Gvardiol and his contract situation. The defender&#8217;s current deal expires in 2028 but Guardiola would welcome a new deal for the 24-year-old.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Last season, he was an important player for us, played all the games and then your body says enough is enough,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Happy he is back. Hopefully he can help us in the last part of the season and make a good World Cup with Croatia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Next season we can have him at his best. Central defender, full-back. He can play different roles so fast, so quick, really good to have him back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;I have no info (on a new contract). I would love Gvardiol to stay here. It is not easy to find a player like him so hopefully he can stay.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester City defender Josko Gvardiol made his first appearance since breaking his leg against Chelsea&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}