Joe Hart's hopes of a swift end to his misery at
Manchester City have been dashed by confirmation from manager Manuel Pellegrini
that he will remain on the bench against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.
The England goalkeeper lost his club place on Saturday
after his mistake at Chelsea the previous week proved one too many in an
error-prone season.
Hart could only watch as City crushed Norwich 7-0 - a
game in which Costel Pantilimon had little to do - but Pellegrini confirmed the
Romanian will start again when CSKA visit the Etihad on Tuesday.
"I don't know when Joe will come back to the
team," the manager said. "It is very important for him to have a
rest. He has played all the matches in the last two and a half years.
"We will see in the future what we must do. For
today, Pantilimon is playing."
City will also be without striker Stevan Jovetic for the
game against CSKA, with the Montenegro international ruled out for another
three weeks.
Jovetic, who has been hampered by injuries since signing
from Fiorentina in the summer, was substituted after just 10 minutes of last
week's Capital One Cup tie at Newcastle with a calf problem.
Captain Vincent Kompany also remains on the sidelines as
he continues his recovery from a groin injury.
Pellegrini said: "Jovetic has at least three weeks.
Except Vincent Kompany and Richard Wright, all the other players are fit."
The manager dismissed concerns over striker Alvaro
Negredo's fitness, saying the Spaniard was substituted early against Norwich
after feeling the effects of playing extra time at Newcastle.
"Alvaro is okay," he said. "He doesn't
have any problem. He just played 45 minutes because he played 115 minutes three
days before."
Sergio Aguero scored twice as City came from behind to
secure a 2-1 win but the game was overshadowed by Yaya Toure's complaints of
racist chanting from sections of the home support.
CSKA have since been charged by UEFA and ordered to play
their next home game in the competition at a partially-closed stadium.
Culled from Skysports
0 comments:
Post a Comment