Macarthur's hopes of gatecrashing the top six have been dealt a huge blow after captain Ulises Davila was ruled out for the rest of the A-League Men's season with a knee injury.
The 31-year-old playmaker was diagnosed with a torn meniscus after Saturday night's 1-0 loss to Newcastle Jets and underwent surgery on Wednesday.
The injury is set to sideline the Bulls captain for at least three months, meaning Davila won't return before the end of this season.
Davila tweeted a photo of himself in a hospital bed with his right knee heavily bandaged.
He wrote a caption in Spanish that translates to: "Life loves to challenge us, in God's hands everything will be fine."
Davila has scored three goals in 13 games this season and his absence will leave a major hole in the side.
The Bulls, under new coach Mile Sterjovski, sit in eighth spot, three points adrift of sixth-placed Sydney FC.
Davila suffered the injury in a match that had two delays totalling 127 minutes due to lightning in the area.
Players were first called off at the 14-minute mark when lightning struck close to Campbelltown Stadium.
When play finally resumed 95 minutes later, it lasted just 12 minutes before more lightning forced players off again.
The match restarted after another 32-minute delay, but Sterjovski expressed his concerns about player safety.
"It's hard for the players to cool down, warm-up, then cool down and warm-up and again. That can be dangerous for them," Sterjovski said.
Davila played out the match but was later diagnosed with the injury.
Macarthur will be back in action again on Saturday night when they take on fourth-placed Western Sydney.
