Rodgers' Pre-Manchester United Fitness Update: Ricardo & Praet

- Leicester City host Manchester United at King Power Stadium in the quarter-finals of the Emirates FA Cup on Sunday evening (5pm GMT kick-off)
- Ricardo Pereira is set to be absent for that tie against the Red Devils, says Brendan Rodgers
- Dennis Praet is likely to be available for selection after a hamstring issue of his own
- James Maddison (hip) and Harvey Barnes (knee) are also progressing well in their recoveries 

Portugal international Ricardo was withdrawn during City's 5-0 Premier League triumph over Sheffield United with a minor hamstring strain and will sit out the tie against Ole Gunnar Solskjær's Red Devils.

Midfielder Dennis Praet, on the other hand, is expected to be available for selection for the last-eight tie after recovering from a hamstring complaint of his own following a two-month absence. 

"[Ricardo] won’t be available for the weekend, but we’re pretty confident, after the international break, he’ll be okay," Rodgers said on Friday afternoon at LCFC Training Ground.

"It’s just a slight strain, but thankfully nothing too serious. Dennis will be available for the weekend. On Cengo (Cengiz Ünder), we’ll see how he is after the international break."

James Maddison, meanwhile, remains out with an issue in his hip area and Rodgers is hopeful that, over the coming weeks, the England midfielder could be close to making a return.

"He was out on the field today and he looked very, very good," the 48-year-old explained. "We’re hopeful that, if he can have a good couple of weeks during the international break, he could be close when we get back. He just looked like he had his confidence back.

"He was doing his ball work, multi-directional work, and I think he was really pleased. Hopefully, over the international break, we can step that up and he can join us after that."

Elsewhere, winger Harvey Barnes is now two weeks into his rehabilitation after an operation on his knee and is progressing well, Rodgers added: "He’s had a couple of weeks since the operation. He’s doing very well. He’s doing some work in the gym today.

"He was in the pool too, mobilising his leg and doing some really good work with the sports science and medical teams.

"He’s coming along very well, but obviously we’ll see how he does over the next coming weeks. We said at the time we were looking at about six weeks to get back into training, so we’re two weeks post-operation and it’s all going well, but there’s still a long way to."