Roberto Mancini, the Manchester City manager, expects Roque Santa Cruz to be sidelined for a month with his latest calf injury.
The Paraguayan lasted just four minutes of his comeback at Everton on Saturday before going down with the same problem that caused him to miss three games over the Christmas period.
However, the Italian has been boosted by the return of Stephen Ireland who will return to the bench for tomorrow’s Carling Cup semi-final with Manchester United at Eastlands.
Ireland has missed three games after picking up a hamstring injury at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but Roberto Mancini will have the midfielder amongst his substitutes tomorrow as City look to establish a first-leg lead.
With Santa Cruz absent and Emmanuel Adebayor on indefinite compassionate leave following the gun attack on the Togo team bus at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, Mancini could also recall Benjani Mwaruwari up front
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Patrick Vieira (calf) will not be considered for his debut. The France midfielder has been unavailable since joining from Inter Milan after suffering a calf injury in his final match for the Italian giants.
“It is better for us, and for him, that he can go and be ready in a week or ten days,” Mancini said. “It is better that we do not take risks in this situation. I would like it that when Patrick does come back he can play until the end of the season.”
Manchester City (from): Given, Taylor, Zabaleta, Richards, Onuoha, Sylvinho, Garrido, Trippier, Wright-Phillips, Kompany, De Jong, Barry, Bellamy, Robinho, Benjani, Petrov, Weiss, Tevez, Vidal, Boyata.