Pep Guardiola fears Benjamin Mendy will be out for long time
Mendy has made a positive impression on the Premier League since his £49million move from Monaco in the summer.
But the France international was forced off during the first half of Saturday's home win over Crystal Palace following a tackle on Andros Townsend.
Manchester City hoped the problem would not be serious, and there was even talk of a fitness test prior to last night’s Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk, but it is worse than initially thought.
The 23-year-old will now travel to Barcelona for a full assessment with knee specialist Dr Ramon Cugat, but Guardiola concedes the situation does not look promising.
GETTY
Fabian Delph filled in at left-back in Benjamin Mendy's absence
I am pretty sure it will be longer than we would like
Pep Guardiola
Speaking after the 2-0 win over Shakhtar, Guardiola said: "The day after tomorrow he is travelling to Barcelona and we are going to see finally what he has.
"Our first impression (is he) will be a little bit long, out of the picture, unfortunately for us.
"I don't know, we will wait until Thursday, but I am pretty sure it will be longer than we would like, unfortunately."
On a positive note for City, midfielder Fabian Delph produced an impressive performance as a makeshift left-back in Mendy's absence.
Guardiola said: "I have a theory - midfield players, when they are intelligent, can play everywhere because they understand the global situation.
"He played an amazing game. I am so happy for him. Last season he was injured a lot of the time and when he was fit maybe I didn't count too much on him.
"That was my personal regret. He deserved more minutes."
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