Enrique coy over Iniesta replacement

Luis Enrique is remaining tight-lipped over who will replace Andres Iniesta for Tuesday’s Champions League clash at Manchester City.

The Barcelona playmaker picked up a knee injury in the game against Valencia last week and is expected to be sidelined for up to two months.

Enrique has a glut of midfielders in the running to take over from the Spain international, with Arda Turan, Denis Suarez, Rafinha and Andre Gomes all in contention, but Enrique refused to reveal who he will select.

“I have four or five players to play in Iniesta’s position. I am very lucky, so I won’t be losing any sleep over who I put out,” he told reporters shortly after landing in Manchester.

Enrique is also adamant that the presence of Sergio Aguero – on the bench for the fixture between the two clubs at the Camp Nou two weeks ago – will not force a change to his plans.

“The game does not change at all just because Aguero will be playing. We know all about him, how often he scores, but the overall game is the same and we won’t stress over it.

“We do know that we’ll have to play very well to win. We’ll have to be effective with or without the ball, which is very difficult against a team like City.

“I think it will be a similar match to the first one. There wasn’t a lot of goal chances before the sending off {of Claudio Bravo} and I’ve already said that was a determining factor.

“The result didn’t reflect what happened from the start, but with players of this quality anything can happen at any moment,” he maintained.

Tags Iniesta Luis Enrique Manchester City
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