Kevin De Bruyne, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy and Gabriel Jesus will all miss Wednesday’s Champions League clash with the Portuguese champions.
“We expect Kevin and Aymeric to return in the next few weeks; Gabriel, maybe a little bit longer and we hope they will come back soon and the team will grow,” said Pep.
“Olek Zinchenko is back and other players have recently returned.
CITY+ | SIGN UP TO ACCESS EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
“Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo and Joao Cancelo are in good condition.
“We are still a little bit away from where we want to be.”
The City boss stressed the importance of starting the group stages well at home.
City lost 2-1 to Lyon in the first group stage home game of the 2018/19 campaign and, as a result, qualifying for the Round of 16 became harder.
“For many clubs, including ourselves, it is incredible to be here in this competition,” said Pep.
“The first step is to win the first game. We are still far away from the big target.
“Considering what happened (against Lyon in August), we are not allowed to dream.
“The reality is to win the home games is so important for qualification.
“Losing to Lyon in Lisbon was a tough moment. I felt so responsible. I was not able to drive the club and the players to victory.
“I feel so responsible. We have to accept the reality; we were not good enough. We didn’t play bad, but at the same time we made mistakes and we cannot do that in this competition and go through.
“The reality is, every player and manager, not just here, has to dream with high expectations.
“We have to accept it with humility, with all the bad situations we have. When we do this it is the best way to improve.
“The Champions League is so demanding and the mistakes we commit, I feel so bad for the players.
“We are going to start tomorrow from zero again.
“We have to play six games. Every game is important. Every game is three points.
“I cannot deny when you play the first game away it is not as important as when the first game is at home.
“The objective is to get three points. Ruben Dias explained really well what Porto are as a team.
“We need to be more consistent and improve on the little details. This is the main thing we have to do.”
