Pep Guardiola has claimed that his Manchester City side are "in trouble" as their growing injury list threatens to derail their perfect start to the new season.
Since losing the Community Shield to Arsenal in August, the Citizens have won seven successive games in all competitions including Tuesday's 3-1 win against Red Star Belgrade in their opening Champions League group-stage fixture.
Despite falling behind in the first half, a dominant City outfit turned the game on its head after the break courtesy of a brace from Julian Alvarez and a strike from Rodri to help the reigning European champions make a winning start in Group G.
However, Guardiola was dealt another injury blow shortly before half time when Bernardo Silva was forced off with an unspecified injury.
Guardiola has confirmed that the Portuguese playmaker will miss the "the next few weeks" and will join Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Jack Grealish and Mateo Kovacic on the sidelines.
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Man City entered the contest against Red Star with only six outfield players on their substitutes' bench, and Guardiola has suggested that difficult times are ahead for his threadbare squad.
Speaking to reporters after the victory over Red Star, Guardiola said: "We are in trouble but I am not going to say 'oh, we have a lot of injuries'. It is what it is.
"With the players we have, we will go for it. As long as we have that mentality, that is good.
"We have five really important players injured and to sustain that for a long time would be difficult."
"We can't have, with the salaries and the budgets for the transfers, 55 players," Guardiola added. "It would be chaos for the clubs. They would go bankrupt."
Guardiola has confirmed that De Bruyne, Stones and Grealish are all still recovering from injury, but Kovacic could be in contention to return for Saturday's Premier League game against Nottingham Forest.
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"Unfortunately it is a long time for Kevin," the Catalan boss added. "John didn't play and needs a bit longer. Maybe [Kovacic] is coming back. Jack maybe in a week or 10 days, but after he needs his condition."
Kovacic has missed Man City's last two matches due to a muscle injury in his back that also forced him to sit out of Croatia's two Euro 2024 qualifiers during the international break earlier this month.
Grealish has not been fit to feature in each of City's last three games with a knock to his knee, while Stones has not played for the Citizens since the Community Shield defeat to Arsenal due to a muscle problem.
Meanwhile, De Bruyne is not expected to return to first-team action until the beginning of next year after he underwent hamstring surgery last month.
Man City have a hectic fixture schedule ahead, with their home clash against Forest on Saturday followed by a midweek trip to Newcastle United in the EFL Cup third round and a top-flight away visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The treble winners then begin the month of October with two more away matches against RB Leipzig in the Champions League and Arsenal in the Premier League before the next international break.
Oliver Thomas
