Pep Guardiola is concerned over Kevin De Bruyne's fitness after the Manchester City star picked up a muscle injury during Saturday's Premier League clash against Swansea City.
Sergio Aguero opened the scoring for City early at the Liberty Stadium but the hosts equalised soon after with Fernando Llorente's strike. The visitors went ahead in the second half after De Bruyne drew a foul in the penalty area to let Aguero score from the spot. Raheem Sterling stretched the lead in the 77th minute making it 3-1 in favour of his team.
City cruised to their sixth successive Premier League and 10th overall win of their season on Saturday. However, the table-toppers suffered a blow when De Bruyne limped off the field in the 81st minute of the game.
Guardiola maintained that De Bruyne's availability was important for the team as City have crucial games lined-up against Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic in the upcoming week. He added that the outcome of the injury will be known after assessment on Sunday.
The Spaniard has been all praise of his playmaker, who has two goals and four assists against his name in the ongoing Premier League season. The former Barcelona manager had also called the 25-year-old Belgian second only to Lionel Messi.
"I think he's injured. Tonight, we are going to come back to Manchester; tomorrow, the doctor is going to see," Guardiola was quoted as saying by the Manchester Evening News on Saturday.
"It's a pity. It's important for us.
"For how he reacted, it looks muscular, but I'm not a doctor fortunately."
Heaping praise on his go-to-man Aguero, Guardiola said he was happy with the Argentina international's performance on Saturday but expected more from him. The 28-year-old has been in imperious form this season for The Citizens scoring 11 goals in all competitions despite missing three games due to ban.
"He [Aguero] can play better - he can make other things that are going to help us. I will try - I will try to help him to develop his abilities as a football player," Guardiola added.
