Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed that the club's World Cup contingent are in better condition to those who did not feature in Qatar.
After almost six weeks without competitive club football, the Citizens mark their return with a EFL Cup fourth-round showdown against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.
A total of 16 Man City players were away on World Cup duty, and while some were eliminated in the early stages, Julian Alvarez went all the way with Argentina to lift the biggest international prize.
The return of City's World Cup contingent has been staggered as a result of when players were eliminated from the tournament, with Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan the first two to report back after Belgium and Germany were knocked out in the group stage.
Both De Bruyne and Gundogan featured in City's 2-0 friendly win over Girona on Saturday, with the former scoring the opening goal before assisting Erling Braut Haaland for the second.
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Meanwhile, Rodri, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji returned to first-team training earlier this week after their respective nations were eliminated in the last 16 of the World Cup.
Guardiola has since revealed that a further six players reported back to training on Wednesday ahead of their home encounter with Liverpool and the Spaniard has provided an update on their condition.
Aymeric Laporte of Spain, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, John Stones, Kalvin Phillips and Kyle Walker of England, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias of Portugal, and Ederson of Brazil also competed at the World Cup.
"Step by step they come back. Today six players come back and it's the first time. We are happy they are back and generally they played really well," Guardiola said at a press conference.
"They played a unique experience (at the World Cup). If they come back as good as possible they will try to live another experience in four years' time in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"The players at the World Cup are in better condition than the ones that were here. Sergio [Gomez], Erling [Braut Haaland], Riyad [Mahrez], Cole [Palmer] they are missing a little bit the rhythm.
"Manuel Akanji, Rodri, Aymeric [Laporte] and Nathan [Ake] they came back and we saw them perfectly, that's normal. They competed every day and we had holidays. That's why it was so important to maintain the rhythm. We had one month off."
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Guardiola has also congratulated Alvarez on becoming a world champion with Argentina, along with former City defender Nicolas Otamendi and former Barcelona star Lionel Messi, and he has confirmed that the 22-year-old forward is set to have between seven and ten days off before potentially returning before the New Year.
"We are incredibly happy for him. Congratulations to him, and to Nico Otamendi, Lionel Messi for Argentina," Guardiola added.
"Well deserved champion. Julian is with us and we are delighted because he played a lot. We have a world champion in our team.
"He will have a week, maybe 10 days off because [there were] many games and tension. I don't know the exact date he will come back."
Alvarez enjoyed a productive World Cup campaign, scoring four goals in seven appearances to help the South American giants win the tournament for the first time since 1986.
Man City, who were eliminated from the EFL Cup fourth round by West Ham United last season, will need to come out on top against holders Liverpool on Thursday if they wish to progress to the quarter-finals.
Oliver Thomas
