Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho out for weeks, says Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Sunday 24 February 2019 21:33, UK
Pep Guardiola expects Aymeric Laporte and Fernandinho to be "out for weeks" after being injured in Manchester City's Carabao Cup final win over Chelsea.
Defender Laporte, who has played in all 27 of City's Premier League games this season, was replaced by Vincent Kompany at half-time after suffering a suspected hamstring injury.
Midfielder Fernandinho limped off holding his groin just before the end of normal time.
"In the last action of the first half Laporte felt something and Fernandinho felt something too so I think it will be weeks out," said City boss Guardiola.
Guardiola had already made three substitutions before Fernandinho was injured, bringing on Kompany, Ilkay Gundogan and Leroy Sane before the 90 minutes were up.
Trending
- Usyk denies Fury in intense world championship rematch
- Highlights: Usyk overcomes Fury in epic heavyweight rematch
- Papers: Arsenal, Man City and Bayern in three-way battle for Olmo
- Fury rages: I was robbed... Usyk got a Christmas gift!
- Big fight reaction: What next for Fury and Usyk after contentious call?
- 'He got a Christmas gift!' | Fury left fuming in post-fight press conference
- 'Uncle Frank is blind!' | Usyk responds to Fury complaints
- Littler survives scare to threaten nine-darter and win Worlds opener
- 'I want my revenge!' Dubois storms ring to demand Usyk rematch
- Fury's FURIOUS backstage reaction after defeat | 'I won by at least three rounds!'
However, City were permitted to make a fourth substitution at the beginning of extra-time and Danilo came on to replace Fernandinho.
City went on to win 4-3 on penalties, as Raheem Sterling scored the decisive spot-kick.
Guardiola was pleased afterwards to win back-to-back Carabao Cup titles, but admitted the injuries to Laporte and Fernandinho could prove costly as City seek to overhaul Liverpool's one-point lead in the Premier League, while also competing in the FA Cup and the Champions League.
"The only problem is we will miss a lot of important players for the next [few] weeks," Guardiola told Sky Sports.
"Staying in all competitions is so demanding and so tough. I don't how far we are going to go because Laporte, Fernandinho and other players are injured.
Guardiola added in his post-match news conference: "For the future, for the next competitions, it is so tough. So tough because today we saw it, extra-time and two important players will be out for a while
"We have a lot of games and we demand a lot from our players and these kind of things happen.
"Too many games in bad conditions, the pitches are not good, even the ball is not perfect. At the end people fall down.
"Now we are going to play Schalke with important players not playing but I trust the squad and I am pretty sure the guys who haven't played too much lately are going to make a step forward. We are going to find a solution."
