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Vincent Kompany ruled out of Manchester City's clash against Liverpool with calf injury

The captain has started in City’s last 11 matches, his longest run for three years, but won't feature in tomorrow's game

David Mooney
Friday 08 September 2017 14:52 BST
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The Man City defender has a long-running history of injuries
The Man City defender has a long-running history of injuries

Vincent Kompany has been ruled out of Manchester City’s match with Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime with injury.

It comes as a blow to the skipper, who had returned to the City team at the end of last season following three years of injury problems.

The captain had started in City’s last 11 matches, his longest run for three years, but looks set to miss out on Saturday.

The captain faced a late push to be ready after suffering a calf problem while on international duty with Belgium.

Pep Guardiola said: “I think he will not be able [to play] tomorrow. It will be short term, but I think for the next time he will not be able to play.”

Kompany completed 90 minutes for his national team in their 9-0 win over Gibraltar in August, despite taking a knock.

He then missed Belgium’s 2-1 win over Greece on Sunday.

Guardiola added: “I am sad. I would like him to be fit.

“He made a huge effort, our physios and people worked a lot to take care of him, so the last seven, eight or nine games of last season he played without problems for 90 minutes.

Kompany won't play a role in Saturday's clash against Liverpool 

“This pre-season, we’ve taken care of him and he played these three games for 90 minutes with no problem at all.

“Now it’s the start of the part where we play every three days, up to now it was just one game a week, and unfortunately we lost him. Again, we’ll try to recover as soon as possible.”

City were interested in signing a new central defender in the summer, but failed to bring one in - with West Brom digging their heels in on their £30m valuation of Jonny Evans.

The two clubs didn’t get close to agreeing a fee, with City bidding £18m.

Guardiola could be left ruing the decision not to meet their asking price, admitting a new centre-back was always on the radar.

He said: “The window is over. So with Vincent or without Vincent we thought maybe we needed another one.

“But we have [Eliaquim] Mangala, we have Tosin [Adarabioyo], and we have other options with other players who can play in that position."

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