Kevin De Bruyne has handed Manchester City an untimely injury headache, with Pep Guardiola admitting he could have suffered serious injury in Saturday's FA Cup defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
There were less than three minutes of the second-half on the clock at Wembley Stadium when a potentially match-winning presence was removed from proceedings.
Pep Guardiola was forced to tinker with his plans as a result, with Phil Foden introduced in place of a talismanic presence that City will be hoping for a positive medical update on.
What happened to De Bruyne?
There appeared to be little in the tussle between De Bruyne and N'Golo Kante that led to the former seeing his afternoon cut short.
The City midfielder was heading towards the touchline with a France international at his back.
Next Match
De Bruyne sought to fend off the attention of Kante, planting his right foot into the turf as he tried to keep a rival at arm's length.
The 29-year-old did not appear to roll his ankle, but was clearly in discomfort.
De Bruyne was unable to continue as he took to sitting on the Wembley turf, with Guardiola having to introduce Foden as a result.
Within seven minutes of the Belgian being replaced, Hakim Ziyech had opened the scoring for Chelsea and put them in control of a heavyweight contest.
Thomas Tuchel's side would hang on to that lead and dash City's history-making quadruple dreams.
The bigger picture
The big games will keep on coming for Premier League leaders City at the business end of their 2020-21 campaign.
They will be desperate to have De Bruyne at their disposal for as many of their remaining fixtures as possible.
"He has pain. Tomorrow they are going to test, but they tell me it doesn't look good," Guardiola signalled to the BBC after the final whistle.
Guardiola still has his side in the hunt for a domestic crown, Carabao Cup success and a Champions League triumph.
City will be back at Wembley next weekend when facing Tottenham in the League Cup final, but have a trip to Aston Villa on Wednesday to take in before then.
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