City striker Aguero injured in crash, may be out for 8 weeks
BROKEN RIB The Argentine forward suffers fractured rib after his taxi, on way to airport, hits a pole in Amsterdam on Thursday night
LONDON: Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has suffered a broken rib in a car crash in the Netherlands, dealing a major blow to the Premier League leaders’ title aspirations.
Aguero had established himself as the driving force behind City’s surge to the top of the table with six Premier League goals this season, but now the Argentine ace could face a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
The 29-year-old sustained the injury after a taxi taking him to an Amsterdam airport following a music concert was involved in an accident on Thursday night.
City manager Pep Guardiola said
Aguero will miss
City’s clash at champions Chelsea on Saturday, and is also set to be sidelined for Argentina’s World
Cup qualifiers early in October.
OUT FOR TWO MONTHS
British media reports claim Aguero will be out of action for at least two months. “The first impression is he has broken a rib but the number of days he will be out, I don’t know,” Guardiola told reporters in Manchester.
Aguero was due to return to Manchester on Friday morning, with Guardiola insisting he had no problem with Aguero being in Amsterdam on his day off.
“A day off is to be happy,” he said. “I am a trainer who doesn’t want to train every day because they (the players) need to rest, mentally and physically.”
Amsterdam police spokesman Frans Zuiderhoek could not confirm the identities of the two passengers and the driver, who all asked to remain anonymous.
The accident occurred on De Boelelaan street, said Zuiderhoek, not far from the Arena A where Colombian singer Maluma performed on Thursday. “He’s injured, he cannot play tomorrow and it’s not an injury that I can have the hope like I have with (Antonio) Valencia or (Phil) Jones,” Mourinho said ahead of the home Premier League game against Crystal Palace. “So long-term injuries I don’t speak about them,” Mourinho said. “Ibra and Pogba and Rojo, these players I don’t think about them.” NEWDELHI: Amarjit Singh Kiyam was taken by surprise when he was chosen by his team-mates to lead the India U-17 World Cup side in an internal poll ordered by head coach Luis Norton de Matos.
He, however, insisted that he believes in unity of the team and not on individuals.
“I was very much surprised when the coach told me that I was the captain of the team. It was an amazing feeling for me. But at the end of the day we play as a team, we win as a team and we lose as a team. Individuality matters little, unity is the strength of this team,” Amarjit said.
Hailing for Haokha Mamang village in Manipur’s Thoubal district, Amarjit faced hardships during his childhood days as his farmer father and fish-seller mother toiled hard to run their family and at the same time saved some money from their meagre income to support their son’s passion -- football.