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Aymeric Laporte will be out for up to a month with the hamstring injury sustained in Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Real Madrid. The central defender, who may miss six matches, is unavailable for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final and the Champions League second leg against Real on 10 March.
Laporte was forced off after 33 minutes at the Bernebéu on Wednesday and Pep Guardiola indicated the problem was related to the player returning after a knee injury that kept him out for five months. The start in Madrid was only his third since a further four weeks out after an initial comeback at Sheffield United on 21 January.
“He has a hamstring injury, so that is normally three weeks or one month, more or less,” the manager said. “We tried to avoid it but unfortunately it has happened after four or five months out, then going directly into a big game. It sometimes happens.”
Laporte could miss the FA Cup tie at Sheffield Wednesday, Sunday week’s derby at Manchester United and visits to Burnley and Chelsea.
Guardiola said: “It is tough but players have to overcome these situations. Life is not easy and always in the world the people who survive overcome the bad moments. The guys who don’t play are guys who say they can’t face it, [that] ‘the world is against me’.
“Injuries are the same. If you think, ‘I am an unlucky guy’, you will not improve. It is what it is. Accept it and work harder to come back in the best condition as possible.”
Guardiola has to contend with the two-year Champions League ban hanging over the club, the Premier League’s investigation into whether City breached its financial fair play regulations and other off-field challenges, including allegations his emails were hacked.
The manager was asked whether this made it a unique season. “A little bit,” he said. “Johan Cruyff told me once: ‘The problem with managers at big clubs is that 70% is issues off the pitch and 20-30% is on the pitch.’ At the time I thought he was crazy but he was true. You have to handle it.”
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