Manchester City forward Antoine Semenyo is expected to miss up to eight weeks of action following a knee injury sustained during last weekend’s 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town. The 26-year-old Ghana international, who has contributed two goals and three assists in the Premier League this campaign, left the pitch late after appearing as a 77th-minute substitute.
Manager Enzo Maresca confirmed the diagnosis during Monday’s press briefing, describing the injury as collateral rather than muscular. “It could be eight weeks. Now the most important thing is recovery. When he is back in December it will be like a new player,” Maresca stated, noting that the setback was not as severe as initially feared.
Addressing the injury, Maresca added, “We tried to save him, we tried to keep him fresh, just give him some minutes, he didn’t play a lot but sometimes things happen, we cannot control.”
Alongside Semenyo, City faces uncertainty regarding star striker Erling Haaland, who suffered a knock to his foot and ankle in stoppage time against Ipswich. While Haaland’s participation in Tuesday’s Champions League fixture against AEK Athens remains in doubt, the manager remains hopeful. “He can be available, we will see, we have a session now. We have some doubts after Saturday’s game. He was quite good yesterday, better,” Maresca explained.
Haaland has been in prolific form, scoring in his last eight appearances for a total of 12 goals, helping City secure seven consecutive top-flight wins. Should the Norwegian be sidelined, Maresca suggested that players like Phil Foden could provide alternative options, though he acknowledged that replacing a primary number nine is inherently difficult.
City enters the AEK match aiming to recover from a 4-2 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last week, a result that left them 17th in the competition with three points from two matches. Maresca believes the team’s response since that loss has been positive and emphasized the need to maintain focus in the European competition.
Elsewhere in the Champions League, the focus shifts to a high-profile matchup between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona. Barcelona has enjoyed a perfect start to the season, winning all 11 matches across all competitions and scoring 48 goals—an average of more than 4.3 per game. The fixture marks a major test for the Catalan side against the two-time defending champions. Ahead of what is always Barca’s biggest game of the season — the clasico against bitter rival Real Madrid in La Liga on Sunday — comes an eagerly anticipated trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday in the standout Champions League match of the third round.
PSG has also found momentum, winning six consecutive games, including a 6-1 victory over Slovan Bratislava and their recent 4-2 triumph over City. PSG currently leads the competition in scoring, narrowly edging out Barcelona. Despite recent civil unrest and protests in France, the French government has confirmed that the PSG-Barcelona match will proceed as scheduled. With one more goal than Barcelona after its 5-1 win over Feyenoord and 4-1 victory at Galatasaray, that makes them the top scorers in the competition.
This encounter is being viewed as a potential preview of the final, which is hosted in Madrid next June. It is a significant test for Barcelona, who have not reached a Champions League final since 2015, as they look to overcome a PSG side that secured a 2-1 victory over them in the league phase last year with a late goal from Goncalo Ramos. Which hasn’t been in the Champions League’s title match since 2015 — when Luis Enrique, the current PSG coach, was at the helm and Messi was wreaking havoc in tha, that would underline the definitive revival of Barcelona. A year ago, PSG came to Barcelona in the league phase without injured star forwards Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and rallied to win 2-1, with Goncalo Ramos scoring a 90th-minute winner. Meanwhile, not since those glorious days of Lionel Messi in that famous blue-and-garnet shirt has Barcelona been this good.
