Ligament Tear Feared for De Bruyne

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini knows his team will have to overcome a highly-motivated Everton – and a 2-1 deficit – to reach the Capital One Cup final.

But De Bruyne’s knee buckled as he fell to the ground at the 88-minute mark and he screamed in agony as he slumped to the turf.

De Bruyne was the Bundesliga assists leader in the 2014-15 season and was named Bundesliga Player of the Year for his efforts with Wolfsburg.

“I was only interested in the ball hitting the back of the net”, the England worldwide said. Everton will also have the savvy Gareth Barry in midfield protecting the back four and if Tim Howard can repeat his performance of a couple of weeks ago we could see a Liverpool v Everton final. “It is as important for us as it is them, it is important to play in the final at Wembley”. In that case, City would need to win by at least two goals to avoid overtime and a potential penalty kick shootout.

However, Martinez is only concentrating on tonight, saying: “We need to make sure we play to win the game in isolation”.

It would be interesting to see who comes out on top, with Everton trying to set up a date with cross town rivals Liverpool FC for the final at Wembley. But we go to the Etihad for the win and to score because I think if I score it is an important thing.

While Liverpool played out a 1-1 draw in a Premier League fixture with Everton in October, the Reds thumped Manchester City 4-1 in the league the following month.

City now needed two goals to stay alive and the first came within six minutes, Fernandinho running onto the ball after a shot was deflected into his path and driving in a low shot that ricocheted off Leighton Baines and over goalkeeper Joel Robles. “That doesn’t mean we play in a different manner away from home – we’ve got the same personnel, the same way of playing – so there are aspects that are affecting the manner of goals we are conceding”.

With any hopes of a successful league run now nearly completely out of the equation, attention will inevitably turn to the cup competitions, with the Capital One Cup and FA Cup providing Martinez and his side with a chance of some degree of reprieve from the pressure of their angry fanbase.