Aguero blow for Manchester City

The prolific Argentinian, who has scored 19 times this season, suffered a knee ligament injury in City's laboured 1-0 Barclays Premier League victory over Everton at the Etihad Stadium.

The 26-year-old will need to be assessed before City will know the full extent of the damage but Manuel Pellegrini is already expecting him not to be travelling to Italy.

That is a major blow for the English champions, who already have a number of injury and suspension problems for the decisive final group game.

Pellegrini told Sky Sports: "He has a problem in his ligament, in his knee. We will see tomorrow how serious it is but it's not good news, I don't think he will be able to play next week.

"We must wait for the doctor but the important thing is he will not be playing against Roma and it's a very important game for us.

"But we have other players and we will rearrange if he does not play."

City are locked on five points with Roma and CSKA Moscow in a battle for the second last-16 qualification spot behind Group E winners Bayern Munich.

To progress City need to win and hope CSKA do not beat Bayern, or get a score draw and hope CSKA lose.

They are already without key midfielder Yaya Toure through suspension, while Vincent Kompany and David Silva are battling to prove their fitness. Stevan Jovetic and Fernandinho also sat out the Everton game to rest knocks.

On the positive side, City overcame the early loss of Aguero to come through a difficult contest, courtesy of a Toure penalty - and cut Chelsea's lead at the top of the table to three points.