‘OMG no way!’, ‘April fools aren’t funny’ – Man City fans react as Pep Guardiola provides major fitness update on Ruben Dias

Pep Guardiola has sparked Premier League title fear into Manchester City fans by suggesting that Ruben Dias will not recover from injury in time to face Liverpool later this month.

The 24-year-old defender suffered a hamstring injury in the FA Cup win over Peterborough at the start of March

There was not yet a return date for the Portuguese international, but Pep Guardiola will be keen to have his star defender back sooner rather than later for the intense run-in.

Guardiola said at the time he would be out for ‘four to six weeks’ and it was hoped he could have recovered during the two-week international break.

However, Speaking on Friday, the City boss confirmed he will not be available for the trip to Turf Moor, nor will Cole Palmer, who is still out due to injury.

“Ruben [Dias] and Cole Palmer are out. The rest are fit. He is out. I don’t know. The doctor said for four to six weeks. We need 10 days or two weeks more. The plan depends on the players when I saw them for the training today and yesterday.”

These Guardiola’s comments were shared on Twitter by City Xtra and it attracted plenty of attention from the club’s supporters.

“Omg no way!.”
Credit: @ZahibHussain21

“Need him to be joking or we’re finished.”
Credit: @sufjons

“If thats the case we might lose everything .”
Credit: @TheImmortalDias

“Either pep is just joking or we’re finished.”
Credit: @mcfcjameswiz

“Pep always means when a player will be back at 100%. I reckon Dias will play next weekend.”
Credit: @MCFCTone

“April fools aren’t funny.”
Credit: @Its4hm4

“Great to hear Pep glad it’s going well and he’s going to miss the 4 most important games of the season so far.”
Credit: @TeacherOfBall

Manchester City are still on course for a historic treble and will look to kickstart that chase with a convincing victory against Sean Dyche’s Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday afternoon.