Their midfield was key last season and if we now think about who is left of that midfield, both are gone. Gundogan and De Bruyne. Since the two controlled the whole Manchester City game and also scored goals and gave countless assists, it doesn't come as a surprise that now when both of them are absent the game is much worse than it was last season. I think this is probably the difficult task ever for Guardiola to find two successors for Gundogan and De Bruyne who are able to manage the Manchester City game on the same level.
Kevin De Bruyne is arguably one of the best players in the Premier League. In a few years, he will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the icons of the Premier League. İlkay Gündoğan was also a midfielder who scored a lot of goals despite being a midfielder. Especially in critical moments, he could come on the scene and change the fate of the match. He was very cool and very professional. Kevin De Bruyne suffered an unfortunate injury and Manchester City were helpless. But it was clear that Ilkay Gundogan would leave the team. I think Manchester City should have made a good signing to replace him. They are a bit wrong in this regard.
Won't Kevin recover from his injury by the Champions League game or at least by the 1/4 stage? As far as I remember he will already be fit and Manchester City will not be without one of their key players for these matches. Even if you think about it that way, the 1/8 match is not so difficult to worry about the absence of some players