Manchester City got their UEFA Champions League campaign off to a rip roaring start, with a solid 3-1 win over FC Porto. However, it came with a price as midfielder/central defender Fernandinho left the match injured at the end of normal time.
Manager Pep Guardiola said it’s a repeat of his previous leg injury and that it could keep the 35-year-old out of commission for up to six weeks. “Bad news, his leg will be, I think four to six weeks out, yes it is a big blow for us with these amount of games and no people there, but it is what it is,” Guardiola told his post match news conference.
Fernandinho featured 40 times for City last season, often filling in at center back, where they were simply ravaged by injury. When Aymeric Laporte was out the club was extremely short-handed in the center of their defense. Rodri was brought over last summer as a potential eventual successor to Fernandinho, so he will be getting more minutes now, especially with the congested fixture schedule ahead.
Having a massive workload like this will be especially challenging as the side will be short-handed. The Brazilan joins midfield maestro Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Nathan Ake, Benjamin Mendy and Laporte on the injured list.
There is no time to lament about an injury crisis either as they’ll visit West Ham United in Premier League play on Saturday before heading to Marseille for a Tuesday night UCL clash against the Ligue 1 club.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.