Manchester City have suffered a major scare ahead of their Premier League showdown with Arsenal after Kevin de Bruyne was forced off with a hamstring injury against Inter Milan.
De Bruyne suffered the knock in the final five minutes of the first-half and did not emerge for the second with Ilkay Gundogan coming into place of him.
The German had two golden opportunities to seal the win late on but Inter held onto claim a valuable point after a goalless draw in their opening match of the European campaign.
City welcome Arsenal to the Etihad on Sunday in a meeting between last season’s top two with doubts over de Bruyne’s involvement following his withdrawal.
Speaking after the game, Pep Guardiola confirmed the midfielder is currently being assessed by team doctors.
‘I don’t know haven’t spoken to doctors yet,’ he told a press conference. ‘We will assess tonight and I will have more information tomorrow.’
City fans will be hopeful the change was a precautionary measure ahead of the visit of Mikel Arteta’s side.
City’s opening match of the new Champion League was a frustrating one for the hosts.
In a repeat of the 2023 finale, Erling Haaland, who was chasing his 100th goal in City blue, was kept quiet with Phil Foden also subdued after coming on in the second-half.
‘We faced a really, really difficult team, the champions of Italy,’ said Guardiola.
‘They are physical and they have[strengthinalldepartmentsTheybuildupfromSommerandBastoniplayingonthetransitionIamreallysatisfiedforthegameweplayed[strengthinalldepartmentsTheybuildupfromSommerandBastoniplayingonthetransitionIamreallysatisfiedforthegameweplayed
‘They are masters of defending deep. They help each other unbelievably so you cannot expect to create a lot of chances. We created some chances.
‘We played much better than two years ago in the final of the Champions League. I like everything from my team today. We would prefer to win but still seven games, see what happens.’
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