Leroy Sane made his long-awaited return to action on Friday night, playing for Manchester City Under-23s against their Arsenal counterparts.
Germany international Sane has been sidelined since August, when he suffered a cruciate knee injury against Liverpool in the Community Shield.
Sane, 24, only started the encounter at Wembley when Riyad Mahrez was left out by City amid worries that he could fall foul of doping rules after taking unknown medication while with Algeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Sane’s injury ultimately scuppered a move to Bayern Munich, with the German champions having been keen on his signature for much of the summer.
The flying winger has not featured in a competitive match at any level since.
But he made his return at a sparsely populated Emirates on Friday night, in a 4-2 defeat for City’s Under-23 side.
Sane played 58 minutes in attack alongside youngster Jayden Braaf and appeared to come through unscathed.
It is another step on Sane’s route back to first-team action with City, as well as his national team, as he looks to secure his place in the Germany side at Euro 2020.
Sane has been training with City’s first team in recent weeks, but hasn’t been completely involved in all exercises as medical staff monitor his recovery.
This week Guardiola hinted Sane could play a few Under-23 fixtures, to get full upto speed, before returning to the first team picture.
(Image: Manchester City FC via Getty Ima)
“He’s always part of the training but the distances, the movements, you feel in the game. There are some things I don’t like about your country.
“Academy teams cannot play in a strong league but at the same time it’s an incredible decision that players for the first team for recovery can play for the second team.
“It’s an incredibly good decision. I don’t want to put targets on him, we want him to see the game, speak with him, how he felt against Arsenal. It’s good.”
