Pep Guardiola says Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne faces up to four months out and could require surgery on a hamstring injury.
The 32-year-old was forced off in the first half of June’s Champions League final triumph against Inter Milan and did not play a single minute of pre-season.
De Bruyne returned from that hamstring issue as a second-half substitute in the Community Shield shoot-out loss to Arsenal and captained the side against Burnley in Friday’s Premier League opener.
But the Belgium playmaker only lasted 23 minutes at Turf Moor, where seemingly out of nothing he signalled to the bench that he had felt something.
Guardiola said after the game at Burnley that the issue related to the same hamstring and would see him miss a few weeks, but it appears worse than first feared.
“It’s serious, the injury,” the City boss said. “We have to decide if it’s surgery or not surgery, but it will be a few months out.”
Guardiola said that decision will be taken in the “next days” and De Bruyne faces “three or four months out” if he goes under the knife.
“Ramon (Cugat) saw the images,” Guardiola said of his go-to doctor in Barcelona.
“He didn’t personally (do anything) and they have two or three doctors have the same opinion, more or less, what they have to do.”
Guardiola was speaking on the eve of City’s first ever UEFA Super Cup appearance, with De Bruyne’s injury leaving him clearly downbeat in Greece.
“I have to say the injury for Kevin is a sore blow for us, so he’s a big loss,” Guardiola said at the press conference previewing the clash with Sevilla.
“Kevin has specific qualities that you can lose for one game, two games, but for a long time is really, really tough for us.
“But at the same time you have to look forward and of course you have alternatives there with different skills because the skills for Kevin are irreplaceable.
“But you have different talent players so it’s an opportunity. Life gives you that.
“When there’s an injury, there’s an opportunity for the other ones and I’m pretty sure they will take it.”
Asked if the injury was down to bad luck or De Bruyne returning too soon, Guardiola shot back: “Give me 25 days of preparation and he will not be injured.
“Before I take the decision I spoke to the doctors, the physios with him and he told me ‘I feel good, I feel good’.
“So, I said ‘ok, it’ s better start then half-time (take him off) but unfortunately it happened.”
Phil Foden looks primed to step up in that role but the severity of De Bruyne’s injury could see City look at a signing before the window closes.
“We will see,” he said. “After what happened, we haven’t talked with Txiki (Begiristain, City sporting director).
“We will see the chances and possibilities. We will see.”
De Bruyne looks set to miss City’s entire Champions League group stage and potentially December’s Club World Cup on top of domestic matters.
The severity of the Belgium playmaker’s injury is a big setback and came as a surprise to team-mate Rodri.
“Well, I didn’t know it was that much, honestly,” he said. “What can I say? I mean, he is one of the most important players of the club.
“For sure we are going to miss him a lot. We are going to try to support him in this bad moment. No one wants injuries.
“I saw him the other day and he was positive, he wants to come back (quickly).
“He’s an experienced player, he knows he doesn’t have to run fast to come back. He has to recover – that’s the most important part.
“We are going to miss him but at the same time I can tell you we have a very complete squad to play these two months without him.
“And hopefully we can have him back because he has been so important these years.”
Amorim wants Man Utd players to be inspired by club's history
Ruben Amorim wants his Manchester United players to be inspired by the club's history as he bids to bring a winning mentality back to Old Trafford.
Amorim, taking over at the Premier League club following the departure of Erik ten Hag, was speaking in his first interview with the club after a tour of their home venue.
The Portuguese tactician had visited Old Trafford earlier in the week and met a group of supporters, as well as the women's team's vice-captain, England star Ella Toone.
"When you come [to Old Trafford], it's so different. You see the trophies, you see the tragedy that we have as a club. The history," said Amorim.
The 39-year-old added the manner in which the club defied the odds to succeed under Matt Busby after the Munich air disaster in 1958 should be a particular source of inspiration.
"This kind of strength, I think it's important to put in our team. When the players come here, they should take the stadium tour all the time. I think this is very important to do," Amorim said.
"It's normal if you go a lot of years without winning, you start losing that feeling. So I think we need to put all the players doing the same thing, to regain that feeling.
"We haven't won the Premier League for a long time. But if you ask, United is the biggest club in England.
"So this is part of history, it is not now. So we have to address that, to show that and to try to win again."
Asked what his footballing philosophy is, the former midfielder said it all comes down to being a team.
"The team is the most important thing for me. And if you work as a team, then the talent individually is going to shine," he said.
"But if I have to explain the importance of everything, it is the character, the way we fight, the way we play, and we must have an identity.
KC, JC through to Manning Cup semis as champs Mona booted
A new ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup champion will be crowned after Kingston College (KC) registered a decisive 2-0 victory over reigning titleholders Mona High in their Group A quarterfinal showdown at Stadium East on Friday.
Kvist Paul (8th) and Demario Dailey (70th) did the damage for Kingston College in a win that not only ended Mona's campaign but also propelled the North Street-based team into the semifinals alongside Jamaica College (JC), who trounced Tivoli High 4-0 in a simultaneous fixture at the Ashenheim Stadium.
By virtue of the results, Jamaica College topped the group on seven points, one point ahead of Kingston College (six points), while Tivoli High (three points) and Mona High (one point) will now turn their focus to the Walker Cup knockout competition for redemption.
Kingston College’s Head coach, Vassell Reynolds, lauded his team's composure and execution.
"It was a fantastic performance. We knew Mona would come out strong, but the boys stuck to the game plan and delivered when it mattered. Now, we look ahead to the semifinals, but as always, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. The aim is to keep the boys grounded and focused, and we will see what happens when that time comes,” Reynolds said.
With a lot at stake for Mona in particular heading into the contest, it was expected to be a close affair, but the manner in which Kingston College started ensured otherwise.
In fact, Mona had very little say in the contest as Kingston College’s show of intent resulted in an early strike inside 10 minutes. Damaine Smith delivered a perfectly placed corner kick, which Paul rose to meet and headed past Mona's goalkeeper, Riquelme Edwards.
Mona High, desperate to respond, almost found themselves further behind in the 15th minute when Dailey fired wide from a promising position.
As Mona struggled to contain Kingston College’s tactical discipline and attacking enterprise, Deshawn Byfield almost added his name to the scoresheet but had his effort dramatically cleared off the line by Dante Peralto.
Despite KC’s dominance, Mona’s goalkeeper Edwards produced a string of superb saves to keep his team in contention.
Just before halftime, he acrobatically parried a powerful shot from Kajay Fletcher, diving full stretch to his right, and Byfield failed to capitalize on the rebound.
Seconds later, Edwards was called upon again to deny a stinging shot from Smith.
Matrim Martin then unleashed a venomous right-footer, but Edwards once more stood tall, ensuring the scoreline remained 1-0 at the break.
The purples continued to assert their authority on the resumption as Dailey threatened in the 68th with a firm shot from close range that went straight at Edwards.
However, the Kingston College striker, sporting the number nine jersey, made amends two minutes later. Sent on his way by a brisk through pass, Dailey powered a low drive past a flat-footed Edwards to double Kingston College’s lead and effectively end Mona’s hopes of a comeback.
Clarke hails solid Scotland as Croatia win boosts Nations League survival hopes
Steve Clarke credited Scotland's defensive resilience after they boosted their hopes of remaining in the top tier of the Nations League by beating Croatia 1-0 at Hampden Park.
John McGinn came off the bench to score the all-important goal as Scotland took advantage of Petar Sucic's sending-off to claim their first win of the 2024-25 Nations League campaign.
The result – coupled with Poland's crushing 5-1 defeat in Portugal – means Scotland will stave off automatic relegation to League B if they win in Warsaw on Monday.
While Clarke felt Scotland could have done more with the ball, he was impressed both with their off-the-ball work and with the impact of super sub McGinn.
"My first thoughts when I came off the pitch were that we could play better," Clarke said.
"We could be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch. The sending off changed the game, but we were due a little break.
"This is a group of players that want to be successful, want to do well for their country.
"That's another clean sheet, two in a row. If you don't concede goals, you always have a chance to win the game.
"It was nice to get John on the pitch and I thought his finish was really good because it wasn't easy. It was nice to be able to look at the bench behind and know we had people who could come on and affect the game. It's nice when we get everybody fit and available."
The victory was Scotland's first in a competitive match since September 2023, when they beat Cyprus 3-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying.
They had gone 10 games without a competitive victory since then, drawing four and losing six, including a return of just one point from three outings at Euro 2024.
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