Bojinov, Petrov, Johnson, Sturridge and er, Danny Mills have all suffered lengthy lay offs but to differing degrees are at last on their way back…
As City gear up to face what amounts to Aalborg’s last stand in European competition this season, the shorter term injury situation will give Mark Hughes and his backroom staff some relief.
Both Vinny Kompany and Craig Bellamy have flown to Denmark with the UEFA Cup squad.
The outstanding Kompany’s continuing toe injury which has required repeated cortisone injections has eased after a two game rest. The City boss confirmed:
‘We’re trying to enable him to train and play without having the injections, but we’re not quite there yet. But he’s in a better place now than two weeks ago. It got so bad he couldn’t continue even with injections.
‘The worry was that it was going to be a chronic condition that he wouldn’t be able to shift for weeks or months. We didn’t want to get to that level. I don’t think he’ll need surgery, it’s about managing the pain.’
Bellamy, meanwhile, who has been insatiable in sky blue has defied initial estimates by making the plane. His knee injury remains a cause for concern, and he may well be used sparingly considering City’s nasty looking end of season fixture run in.
Both players international experience and guts will be crucial tomorrow night as Aalborg prepare to bombard The Blues.
Back at Carrington, Benjani and Danny Sturridge are both free of doctors and back in full training.
Valeri Bojinov, ineligible for the UEFA campaign has been brought back with much caution to Hughes’ credit who must have been tempted to use The Raging Bulgar to a greater extent this past fortnight.
The hefty striker scored for City reserves in a 5-1 win at Bolton last night. He’s knocking on the door for a Premier League start.
Bojinov knows more than any player at Eastlands what it is like to be sidelined for many months and two other players who have been sharing that experience with him are on their way back. Regarding Martin Petrov and Michael Johnson, Hughes revealed:
‘It’s frustrating for them but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If it doesn’t happen, they will train through the summer to be fit for the start of next season.’
Rigbsy in particular is said to be looking sharp and flying. It could be that we will be seeing him tearing down the left wing in April. He remains named in the City UEFA squad.
As for Johnno, there won’t be a Blue out there who doesn’t wish the lad well and he can expect a terrific Eastlands welcome if he can fight back and give us that box to box midfielder we’ve been missing this season.
Suddenly, City are presented with options at a critical time in this gruelling season.
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TO THE CARL RAMSBOTTOM APPEAL:
On 27 November 2008, Carl travelled over to Germany to watch his beloved side play Schalke in the UEFA Cup, however due to a tragic incident at a German train station, Carl suffered life threatening injuries.
Due to this horrendous incident, Carl ended up in a coma for three weeks. He is currently in a rehabilitation unit in Germany while his family remain by his bedside.
The family are hopeful that Carl might be in a position to be repatriated to a rehab unit within the United Kingdom, hopefully sometime this month.
If you would like to make a donation, please make cheques payable to P&W MCFCCSA and send it to Ian Ramsbottom. 12 Plant Hill Road Blackley M96NH.
Or,if you would prefer to pay by credit or debit card, please click on the following link.
Thank you.
JOIN VITAL MANCHESTER CITY:
When the first whistle blows, don’t forget to join the Vital MC Community on our popular Live Match Thread in the Forums on match days.
Vital Manchester City and it’s Forums are growing fast with over 1,200 Blues now registered with us. There’s more to come – Be Here Now and join our worldwide community:
Share this article
