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Manchester City suffer huge blow as Kyle Walker is banned from Champions League

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Kyle Walker has been hit with a three-match ban in a big blow to Man City ahead of the Champions League knockout stages.

Kyle Walker has been slapped with a three-match ban by the UEFA in a massive blow to Manchester City ahead of the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The right-back was shown a red card for kicking out at RB Leipzig striker Andre Silva during City’s 2-1 defeat at the start of December last year.

The European governing body has deemed Walker’s foul as an “assault” and has announced that the City player will face an extended punishment.

Walker is set to miss both legs of the upcoming knockout stage tie with Sporting Lisbon, and will also miss the first leg of City’s quarter-final, if they progress to the next round, or the first game of next season’s Champions League campaign.

Pep Guardiola was extremely unimpressed with Walker’s actions during the game against Leipzig, and said after the game: “The red card hurts us, especially for the round of 16.

“Kyle Walker is an important player for us and is unnecessary to lose him like this. I hope he learns from this.”

Walker himself admitted last week that his red card was “unnecessary”. He said: “My red card against Leipzig was very bad judgement and a stupid error that a 31-year-old shouldn’t be making with the amount of games that I’ve played.

“I’m human, I make mistakes and I’m learning from that and will bounce back. Hopefully my performances between now and the end of the season can justify that and I’m picking up some silverware.”

City take on Sporting in the first leg of the round of 16 on February 15 with the return leg to be played at the Etihad Stadium on March 9.

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