Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted he is concerned the knee injury picked up by striker Sergio Agüero in Monday's 5-0 win over Burnley could be a serious one.
Shortly before half-time, Agüero won a penalty after being tripped in the penalty area by Ben Mee. However, he was unable to continue the game, with Riyad Mahrez stepping up to convert what was City's third goal of the comfortable victory.
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Mee caught the Argentine on the foot, but Guardiola confessed after the game that Agüero may have aggravated a knee injury which he has been dealing with for the last few weeks.
"We'll see tomorrow in a better way what he has," Guardiola said (via BBC Sport). "He felt something in his knee. He has struggled in the last month, some pain in his knee, so we will see.
"I'm not a doctor, but it doesn't look good."
That concern was shared by Agüero's father, Leonel del Castillo, who told Radio La Red (via ESPN) that the striker fears it could be the kind of injury which requires surgery.
"His knee was already hurting and he got worse in the game," he said. "He thinks it’s a meniscus injury, although [on Tuesday] they will do an MRI to confirm it. I predict that they will operate on him in Barcelona on Thursday or Friday."
ESPN add that recovering from such a procedure could take up to six weeks, which would mean Agüero would miss the remainder of the Premier League season and would face a race against time to recover for the Champions League.
City are set to host Real Madrid in the second leg of their last-16 tie on 7 August, just over six weeks after Agüero picked up the injury.
Regardless of whether he does need surgery or not, Agüero seems likely to miss upcoming meetings with Chelsea and Liverpool, and with Jürgen Klopp's side likely to win the title as soon as City drop points, losing Agüero would come as a huge blow.
Gabriel Jesus came on to replace Agüero and was involved in creating City's fifth goal for Phil Foden, and it appears as though the Brazilian may be tasked with leading the line for the remainder of the campaign.
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Source : 90min