Pablo Zabaleta will miss Newcastle game
Pablo Zabaleta will miss Manchester City’s Premier League match with Newcastle this Sunday.
The player damaged his hamstring during the Europa League match with Juventus on Thursday.
"It is a hamstring," said City manager Roberto Mancini. "I do not believe it is serious but he won't play on Sunday."
The Argentine defender was substituted at half-time after he picked up the injury in the 1-1 draw at the City of Manchester Stadium. Juventus striker Vincenzo Iaquinta and Engand international Adam Johnson scored the goals.
City got off to a slow start. "I don't know why we started so slowly," said Mancini. "We thought we could control the game but Juventus scored, the match changed.”
The Manchester City manager also believes that the growing injury list is taking its toll on forward Carlos Tevez.
"I am concerned about the situation," said Mancini. "If we had all our strikers available probably sometimes Carlos could miss a game."
"But we knew we would have a problem with injuries until the end of this month. After the next lot of internationals, we might get some players back and Jo and Emmanuel Adebayor might be 100%,” he added.
Zabaleta will be a concern for Manchester City. The player has been a regular this season and can play at right or left back.
The defender will hope to be back after the international break, but he may be out for longer as Mancini will not want to rush the player back until he is fully fit.
Micah Richards is likely to move into the right back position from centre half for the game against Newcastle. Richards has played as a right back and started his career in this position.
Zabaleta will consider himself unlucky. The player had only established himself as a first choice full-back and with the strong competition in the City squad, there is no guarantee that he will regain his place in the team.
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