Richards ruled out for up to four months

Micah Richards has been ruled out for up to four months after undergoing a knee operation on Monday.

The Manchester City FC defender had keyhole surgery to mend torn cartilage suffered near the end of Saturday's 1-0 Premier League victory over Swansea City AFC. There were fears the England international had damaged ligaments, which could have kept him out until the end of the season. Those worries were only partially allayed with the diagnosis of meniscus damage, but Richards, 24, remains upbeat.

"The positive thing is that the injury has been repaired so the knee will be as good as new," he told the club's website. "I can't do anything at all for the next four to six weeks and I am probably looking at 12–16 weeks before I am back in action. I knew straight away in the game that it was quite a bad injury. The knee locked and I couldn't straighten it."

Richards will miss the rest of the UEFA Champions League group stage, with City seeking to revive their fortunes after accruing just a point from three games. It temporarily leaves manager Roberto Mancini without a right-back though Pablo Zabaleta is poised to return from a hamstring problem, while Maicon should be back from a recurring hamstring complaint by mid-November.