Christopher Nkunku is a doubt for RB Leipzig's meeting with Manchester City in nine days' time after limping off against Borussia Dortmund on Friday.
The last-16 tie is finely poised after the first leg in Germany ended 1-1. City dominated the opening 45 minutes but only managed to score once through Riyad Mahrez. Missed chances proved inevitably costly and Josko Gvardiol powered home a headed equaliser late on.
Leipzig were in Bundesliga action with a big clash in the title race against Dortmund on Friday, which they lost 2-1. In a further blow, they once again lost star forward Nkunku to injury as he left the field with a thigh issue. The Frenchman has only just returned to action after a three-month layoff with torn knee ligaments which saw him miss out on last year's World Cup.
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Nkunku scored a hat-trick the last time he played at the Etihad but Leipzig will now be sweating over his fitness ahead of the second leg on March 14. Their manager Marco Rose admitted he should have taken Nkunku off earlier against Dortmund.
"In hindsight, I think I should have done better and taken him out earlier," Rose said. "Now we must face the consequences." Leipzig's official Twitter account said the injury was only minor, however, so he may recover in time to play in Manchester.
Pep Guardiola, who sang Nkunku's praises ahead of the first leg, which the forward missed through injury, will be hoping so as he always wants City's opponents to be at full strength. "Absolutely," the Blues boss replied when asked if Nkunku was world-class.
"Hopefully, he can come back from a tough injury. It was a pity that he lost the World Cup. We saw from him last season at home, yeah top class player. Hopefully he comes back. Unfortunately he can not be there (for the first leg) hopefully he can come back in Manchester. Always I like to play [against] the best players in the top sides. What I hear he is really close to coming back."
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