Manchester City are waiting anxiously on the severity of the injury suffered by captain Vincent Kompany in last night’s Champions League group stage loss to Juventus 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium.
City were put into the lead when Kompany forced Juve’s Giorgio Chiellini to head into his own net but the Belgian went off injured with the final quarter hour remaining as the Old Lady clawed back into the game and then clinched the game in dramatic circumstances as Kompany watched on from the sidelines.
Manager Manuel Pellegrini offered his initial assessment of the injury of his captain post match, and said: “We will have to see how Vincent is on Wednesday.”
“We will check and see how serious the injury is,” he added.
Kompany sustained a calf injury, and is likely a doubt for the Premier League leaders’ weekend game against West Ham United. Although new signing Nicolas Otamendi and Martin Demichelis are adequate replacements for the Belgian, the fact City will have problems without their talismanic captain was proved last night.
Alvaro Morata scored the winner late into the game and exposed City’s frailties at the back in a situation where Kompany would have easily cleared the danger. The fact City are no longer in possession of a perfect record will also play in Pellegrini and his players’ minds when they take to the field next time out, and the absence of their influential captain will surely be a blow if that is the case.
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