Guardiola hopes De Bruyne, Kompany return for Barcelona trip

Pep Guardiola won't be able to select Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany, or Fabian Delph for Sunday's match at Tottenham Hotspur, but hopes the trio will recuperate well over the international break.

The Manchester City manager's target for De Bruyne's return remains the same - to be ready for Oct. 19's Champions League group stage trip to Barcelona - and he hopes Kompany and Delph also follow this time frame.

"We have 10 days (after Tottenham) which will help us - we need most of them back," said Guardiola at Friday's pre-match conference. "The same with Delph. I don't know - maybe two or three weeks they will be ready. I don't know if they will be ready for Everton (on Oct. 15) or for Barcelona - we'll see next time.

"The injuries are not so, so tough as they seemed in the first impression. Usually a muscle injury is a month but we're going to wait and see."

Guardiola spoke on the midweek 3-3 draw at Celtic, too, a result which marked the first occasion City hadn't taken all the spoils in a match this season. The Blues lined up strongly for the tilt, but were occasionally on the backfoot as Brendan Rogers' youthful attacking contingent swarmed forward.

"There were many things - the first goal was offside, the second was an own goal - that's part of the game," the Spaniard explained. "I would prefer to lose points in the Premier League as you have time to make them back, but the Champions League is short - in the last three games, you have to make four points.

"If not it will be so difficult to go through. It showed us our core principles, our build-up, our high pressing was not good in that game - we have to work on that."

City was defeated in both of its meetings with Spurs last season, but recorded eight wins in the previous nine encounters before those fruitless travails.