Pep Guardiola says Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne faces up to four months out and could require surgery on a hamstring injury.
The 32-year-old was forced off in the first half of June’s Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and did not play a single minute of pre-season.
De Bruyne returned from that hamstring issue as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal and captained the side against Burnley in Friday’s Premier League opener.
But the Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes at Turf Moor, where seemingly out of nothing he signalled to the bench that he had felt something.
Guardiola said after the game at Burnley that the issue related to the same hamstring and would see him miss a few weeks, but it appears worse than first feared.
“It’s serious, the injury,” the City boss said. “We have to decide if it’s surgery or not surgery, but it will be a few months out.”
Guardiola said that decision will be taken in the “next days” and De Bruyne faces “three or four months out” if he goes under the knife.
“Ramon (Cugat) saw the images,” Guardiola said of his go-to doctor in Barcelona.
“He didn’t personally (do anything) and they have two or three doctors have the same opinion, more or less, what they have to do.”
Guardiola was speaking on the eve of City’s first ever UEFA Super Cup appearance, with De Bruyne’s injury leaving him clearly downbeat in Greece.
“I have to say the injury for Kevin is a sore blow for us, so he’s a big loss,” Guardiola said at the press conference previewing the clash with Sevilla.
“Kevin has specific qualities that you can lose for one game, two games, but for a long time is really, really tough for us.
“But at the same time you have to look forward and of course you have alternatives there with different skills because the skills for Kevin are irreplaceable.
“But you have different talent players so it’s an opportunity. Life gives you that.
“When there’s an injury, there’s an opportunity for the other ones and I’m pretty sure they will take it.”
Asked if the injury was down to bad luck or De Bruyne returning too soon, Guardiola shot back: “Give me 25 days of preparation and he will not be injured.
“Before I take the decision I spoke to the doctors, the physios with him and he told me ‘I feel good, I feel good’.
“So, I said ‘ok, it’ s better start then half-time (take him off) but unfortunately it happened.”
Phil Foden looks primed to step up in that role but the severity of De Bruyne’s injury could see City look at a signing before the window closes.
“We will see,” he said. “After what happened, we haven’t talked with Txiki (Begiristain, City sporting director).
“We will see the chances and possibilities. We will see.”
De Bruyne looks set to miss City’s entire Champions League group stage and potentially December’s Club World Cup on top of domestic matters.
The severity of the Belgium playmaker’s injury is a big setback and came as a surprise to team-mate Rodri.
“Well, I didn’t know it was that much, honestly,” he said. “What can I say? I mean, he is one of the most important players of the club.
“For sure we are going to miss him a lot. We are going to try to support him in this bad moment. No one wants injuries.
“I saw him the other day and he was positive, he wants to come back (quickly).
“He’s an experienced player, he knows he doesn’t have to run fast to come back. He has to recover – that’s the most important part.
“We are going to miss him but at the same time I can tell you we have a very complete squad to play these two months without him.
“And hopefully we can have him back because he has been so important these years.”
Bristol City Women 0-4 Man City Women: Hosts relegated as Fowler double inspires WSL leaders
Mary Fowler scored twice to set WSL leaders Manchester City on their way to a 4-0 rout of Bristol City, who suffered relegation as a result, on Sunday.
With Arsenal having drawn with Everton earlier in the day, Man City knew a victory would be enough to take the title race down to two teams.
That victory duly arrived in emphatic fashion, with all four of Man City's goals arriving in the second half.
Fowler's fantastic strike opened the scoring in the 62nd minute, with the Australia international doubling her tally soon after, paving the way for an Amy Rodgers own goal and Alex Greenwood's late header to seal a huge victory.
Arsenal are now out of the title race, with Chelsea - who have two games in hand on Gareth Taylor's team - the only side capable of catching Man City.
The Robins, meanwhile, will be playing in the second tier again next term.
Data Debrief: Bristol heading down with a whimper
Bristol City have failed to score in their last five games in the WSL, a run of 544 minutes without a goal.
They mustered just 0.09 expected goals (xG) to Man City's 3.4, with the visitors having now kept a clean sheet in nine of their 20 league games this season.
De Rossi demands more from 'tired' Roma ahead of crunch run
Daniele De Rossi acknowledged his Roma team may be tired, but he insisted they must not allow themselves to be embarrassed.
Roma fought back to draw 2-2 with last season's Serie A champions Napoli in a pulsating fixture on Sunday.
Tammy Abraham's late header secured a point for De Rossi's team, who took the lead through Paulo Dybala's penalty before going behind to goals from Matias Olivera and Victor Osimhen.
With Serie A set to have five teams in the Champions League next season, Roma occupy fifth spot with four matches remaining, but sixth-placed Atalanta are just two points behind with a game in hand.
There is also the small matter of a Europa League semi-final against Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on the cards over the coming weeks, and De Rossi set the stall out.
"We drew, it is not a result to throw away, but it is not the result or the performance that we wanted," Roma coach Daniele De Rossi told Sky Sports Italia.
"At times you can steal the ball off Napoli, but we then gave it back again too many times. Napoli had a lot of chances in the first half, we did better in the second, but we have to do better.
"Look, we are tired, but we cannot start thinking that we’re tired and that means we can be embarrassed in the final few weeks of the season."
Roma host Leverkusen on Thursday before taking on Juventus on May 5, with a crunch clash against Atalanta – who are also into the Europa League semi-finals – set to follow after the away leg against Xabi Alonso's team.
Key to a successful end to the campaign for Roma will be keeping Dybala fit. The Argentine has been involved in the joint-most goals (12) in Serie A since the turn of the year, scoring nine and setting up three, level with Juve's Dusan Vlahovic.
PSG's latest Ligue 1 title arrives as Monaco lose to Lyon
Paris Saint-Germain have been crowned as Ligue 1 champions after Lyon overcame Monaco 3-2 on Sunday.
A 4-1 midweek win over Lorient ensured that one more victory would be enough for Luis Enrique's team to get over the line, but PSG failed to get the job done themselves when they faced relegation-threatened Le Havre on Saturday.
That game was the 700th match of the QSI era at PSG, and the club's 1,900th in France's top flight.
However, PSG's wait to win their third straight title did not last long, as less than 24 hours later, Lyon – who will face the Parisians in the final of the Coupe de France at the end of May – came out on top in a topsy turvy encounter with second-placed Monaco.
Substitute Malick Fofana was the matchwinner for Lyon, and ultimately the player who handed the title to PSG.
Wissam Ben Yedder had put Monaco ahead in the opening minute, but quickfire goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Said Benrahma turned the match on its head before half-time.
Ben Yedder netted his second to restore parity on the hour mark, and thought he had sealed his hat-trick when he volleyed in from a free-kick, only to have strayed offside.
With only a win good enough for Monaco to stay in the fight, the visitors were then caught out in the 84th minute, with Fofana racing onto Lacazette's throughball and finishing calmly.
After a dismal start to the season, relegation looked a real possibility for Lyon, but they are now, with three games remaining, still in with a shout of qualifying for Europe.
PSG on the other hand now have 12 Ligue 1 titles to their name, with 10 of those coming under QSI's ownership. Aside from the COVID-impacted 2019-20 season, five of their last six league titles have been secured before the start of May.
It also means Luis Enrique remains in the running for a treble in his first season at the club, with PSG taking on Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League semi-finals next week.
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