Pep Guardiola has confirmed Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero suffered a suspected broken rib in a car accident in Amsterdam on Thursday.
Leaders City travel to champions Chelsea on Saturday aiming to extend a run of seven consecutive wins in all competitions but their preparations have been dealt a double blow this week.
In a statement on Thursday, the club announced Benjamin Mendy sustained a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament during last weekend's 5-0 home win over Crystal Palace, while news broke on Friday that Aguero had been involved in a car crash after attending a concert by Colombian pop star Maluma.
Initial reports suggested the 29-year-old, who has seven goals this season and is within one of City's all-time record mark of 177 set by Eric Brook, would be sidelined for around two months due to the incident, which occurred on Amsterdam's De Boelelaan road.
City issued a statement acknowledging Aguero had "sustained injuries" while in the Netherlands on his day off, without commenting on the nature of the problem, but Guardiola told a pre-match news conference his understanding was his top striker had suffered a broken rib.
"Sergio had an accident, is still in Amsterdam and is coming back today," he said.
"I don't know, I'm not a doctor, I don’t know exactly what he had. It was an accident but fortunately he can come back and I hope he recovers.
"The first impression we have is he has broken the rib, but exactly how long he will be off, we don't know."
PEP: No not yet (spoken with Aguero). I have been preparing training. I will speak to him today. First impression is he has broken his rib.September 29, 2017
Aguero also spoke about his injury to Argentine station Radio Metro, according to quotes published by AS.
"The taxi driver did not see the curve and skid. And when he skidded, we hit him with the pole, "he said to Radio Metro de Argentina.
"I broke my rib, now I'm resting. It hurts me badly. I'll be discharged in a little while. "
