Guardiola surprised by swift Sane return

Cape Town - Leroy Sane's return to fitness ahead of schedule is a boost for Manchester City as they ready to face Basel on Tuesday night.

The flying winger has been sidelined with ankle ligament damage since January 28 but was only expected back in five weeks' time.

City manager Pep Guardiola is naturally surprised at the speedy return of his German attacker, who could potentially feature against the Swiss side at St Jakob-Park.

Speaking ahead of the fixture, Guardiola said: "I'm surprised he is fit.

"He works a lot, he's young but I couldn't expect him to be so professional."

The City boss added: "He's not in perfect condition but he won a lot of time [back], he wants to help us. He’s with us and that’s good news. The physios and himself have made a good job."

Whether or not Sane starts though remains to be seen. Guardiola concluded: "He’s had one training session. He is young."

In his 70 games in total for City, Sane has scored 20 and created 22, while this season the 22-year-old has scored seven and made 10 in 22 games.

Kick-off is at 21:45.