Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling is set to miss 'two or three weeks' of action after he suffered a hamstring injury during his side's defeat to Tottenham. The forward is now in a race against time to be fit for the Champions League tussle with Real Madrid.
The England international began City's 2-0 defeat to Spurs, which was the Citizens' sixth league defeat this campaign. Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off in the 60th minute and the north London side capitalised, with Steven Bergwijn scoring on his debut before Son Heung-min doubled the hosts' lead.
A bad result and overall performance... We should have done the job and score way before being punished tonight. Lessons got to be learned for the next important games ✊ #ComeOnCity pic.twitter.com/odqDXDp9Ni
— Raheem Sterling (@sterling7) February 2, 2020
During the game, Sterling was booked for a potentially dangerous tackle on Dele Alli, resulting in the Tottenham midfielder leaving the field early. However, Sterling himself was later substituted and was seen hobbling off.
The Sun now report that the former Liverpool man had tests on a hamstring problem on Sunday and he is expected to be ruled out for 'two or three weeks'. The report further claims that, as a result, he is a 'big doubt' for the Sky Blues' upcoming last-16 Champions League tussle with Real Madrid.
City travel to the Santiago Bernabeu for the first leg of the tie on 26 February and while Sterling faces a race against time to feature, the Sun claim that the player is 'determined' to be fit in time to play.
The injury is considered to be 'not too serious', though he appears certain to miss the visit of West Ham on Sunday. However, after that, the Citizens are not in action until they travel to take on Leicester City 13 days later.
City take on Real Madrid on 26 February, while they also have the Carabao Cup final the following Sunday (1/3), with the club looking to retain their crown.
This news will come as a major blow for manager Pep Guardiola, who recently insisted that he was unconcerned about the attacker's goal drought, but Sterling will be desperate to recover in time to feature in the Champions League tie.
Source : 90min