With Manchester City set for a pivotal few games in April, coming up against PSG in the Champions League semi-final and Tottenham in the Carabao Cup final, the loss of Kevin De Bruyne is one that Pep Guardiola cannot afford.
The Citizens boss confirmed after the club’s FA Cup exit against Chelsea that the star midfielder’s ankle injury, sustained early in the second-half, did not look entirely encouraging.
“He has pain. Tomorrow they are going to test, but they tell me it doesn’t look good,” the Spaniard was quoted as telling the BBC by the Daily Mail.
As the club nervously awaits an update on the extent of the Belgian’s injury, Guardiola must contemplate the toughest game of his City tenure, as Mauricio Pochettino’s PSG await in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final clash.
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With a semi-final being the furthest the Manchester-based side has ever come in Europe’s most elite competition – under the ex-Bayern Munich boss’ predecessor, Manuel Pellegrini – the 50-year-old has a chance to make history.
Should the results of an investigation into the severity of De Bruyne’s injury come back with unsavoury news, however, the manager’s task will be made all the more difficult against the French champions.