City lose Balotelli for six weeks
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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Manchester City FC will be without striker Mario Balotelli for their first two UEFA Europa League group games after it was revealed the 20-year-old requires surgery on his knee injury.
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Manchester City FC striker Mario Balotelli requires surgery on his knee injury and could be out of action for up to six weeks.
The 20-year-old, who joined City last month in a €28m deal from FC Internazionale Milano, sustained the injury on his debut on 19 August after scoring in the 1-0 UEFA Europa League victory against FC Timişoara. He will now miss City's opening UEFA Europa League Group A games against FC Salzburg next Thursday and Juventus on 30 September as well as the important Premier League fixture against Chelsea FC on 25 September.
A club statement read: "The Italian's injury is to the lateral meniscus, one of the two most crucial structures in the knee, and medical wisdom is to try and encourage the problem to heal without recourse to an operation. It was hoped the symptoms would settle down but once Balotelli began to step up his recovery programme this week, it became clear that action would need to be taken."
