Pep Guardiola has been hit with another injury worry just days before their big match against Liverpool at Anfield. Midfielder Matheus Nunes had to leave the pitch during the second half of Manchester City’s Champions League match against Copenhagen.
Nunes looks to have broken the middle finger on his left hand after a bad fall with only 20 minutes left in the game. Youngster Micah Hamilton took his place.
This comes after Jeremy Doku was not included in the squad due to his own fitness issues. City ran out 3-1 winners regardless, securing their place in the quarter-finals following an impressive derby win over Manchester United on Sunday.
Nunes was part of several changes made by Guardiola from the team that beat United over the weekend. His side were already 6-2 up on aggregate before he was taken off.
The tournament holders started off strong, with early goals from Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez making it hard for Copehagen to catch up, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Erling Haaland also scored his usual goal in Europe, putting City further ahead. With Jack Grealish also having injury problems recently, this is an unfortunate time for Guardiola and his team ahead of what could be a title decider in Merseyside.
To make matters worse for the current second-placed side, they might have to play without Doku at Anfield. “He had some muscular problems so we did not want to take the risk,” Guardiola explained before kick-off. The Belgian winger had started in the Manchester derby over the weekend.
Doku missed also eight games due to an injury earlier in the season and has found it hard to get back to his best form since then.
Liverpool themselves know all about injury issues this year though and will be without a key group of players for the game. City’s Phil Foden was in the squad on Wednesday having admitted to getting a dead leg after scoring twice at the weekend.
He was an unused substitute while City were granted the freedom to rest and rotate in the knowledge that Liverpool play 24 hours later and in Prague ahead of the crunch meeting on Merseyside.
