Sergio Aguero’s injury will not deter Manchester City as they approach their crunch Champions League fixture with Roma, according to James Milner.
The Argentine striker went off with knee ligament damage before his City teammates ran out 1-0 winners over Everton in the Premier League at The Etihad.
The win leaves them three points behind Chelsea – who saw their 23-game unbeaten run ended at Newcastle – and Milner was keen to focus on the positives.
“People can say whatever they want, if they think we’re a one-man team,” he told CityTV.
“Sergio is a world-class player, one of the best on the planet, and has been absolutely outstanding, so the injury has come at a bad time.
“Some people have been saying Chelsea have won the league, 10 games in, and here we are with a three-point gap.
“Losing a player like Sergio will be a big miss for us. Hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later, but Edin [Dzeko] coming back is a positive, and he’s a fantastic goalscorer.”
Aguero’s eyes were full of tears as he was substituted for 18-year-old midfielder Jose Pozo and he joins Yaya Toure on the list of absentees for Wednesday’s game in Rome.
The Ivorian scored the winning goal on Saturday from the penalty spot after 24 minutes and held out with Joe Hart making a superb save from Romelu Lukaku to preserve the points.
With Vincent Kompany and David Silva also doubts, City may be without their backbone against Roma in a game that they must win.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini admitted that it will be tough for his side but have been boosted by Edin Dzeko’s return.
“To play such an important game without so many important players is a difficult challenge but I never complain,” he told CityTV.
“We have a squad and we will try to win on Wednesday to continue in the Champions League.”
However, the Chilean wanted to stress the importance on the weekend’s win with a clean sheet to boot.
“It is important to know how to win just 1-0 in some moments. We had chances to score another goal but we didn’t and I am very pleased for the defence,” he added.
“To win today was important for a lot of reasons. December is a very difficult month where we have to play seven Premier League games.”
Main image courtesy of Manchester City FC via YouTube, with thanks.
