Benjamin Mendy will be sidelined until April after the Manchester City left-back ruptured his ACL.

The France international is due to undergo an operation today after injuring his right knee against Crystal Palace last weekend.

And his manager Pep Guardiola confirmed Mendy will not return until the spring.

He said: "Mendy will be out until the Champions League semi finals."

City were optimistic after initial scans on Monday and Pep Guardiola thought he would only be out for a matter of days.

Mendy prepares for surgery (
Image:
benmendy23/Instagram)
Mendy suffered the injury in last week's Premier League clash against Crystal Palace (
Image:
REUTERS)
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But now Mendy and City have been left reeling from this hammer blow and Guardiola will move for another left-back in January because he has no recognised cover for the Frenchman.

Guardiola deployed Fabian Delph as a makeshift left-back against Shakhtar Donetsk and Danilo is his only other realistic alternative for Saturday’s showdown with Chelsea.