Kevin de Bruyne injury scare as Man City is held 0-0 by Inter Milan in the Champions League

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City faces a new injury concern for Kevin de Bruyne ahead of a showdown with Premier League title rival Arsenal after the playmaker was substituted at halftime of Wednesday's Champions League match against Inter Milan.

The Belgium international looked in discomfort after making a run late in the first half. After receiving treatment, De Bruyne didn't return for the second half and was replaced by Ilkay Gundogan. The game ended 0-0.

City hosts title rival Arsenal at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

City manager Pep Guardiola said he didn't know the extent of De Bruyne's injury, but was informed by the club doctor the playmaker could not carry on in the second half.

“I didn’t speak with the doctors yet," Guardiola said about De Bruyne' availability for the weekend. "(He will be) Assessed tonight, maybe tomorrow. We will have more info tomorrow.”

De Bruyne endured an injury-disrupted campaign last season when he was sidelined from August to January with a hamstring problem. He returned to help the club secure a record fourth straight English title.

He has started every game this season and scored in City's 4-1 win against Ipswich last month.

City held off challenges from Arsenal in each of the last two seasons to lift the title. The north London club is expected to be City's main rival again this term.

Arsenal has its own injury problems ahead of the game after captain Martin Odegaard was ruled out with ankle ligament damage.

Without De Bruyne, City failed to find a breakthrough against Inter and was shut out at home in the Champions League for the first time since a 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon in March 2022.

It was only the second time in all competitions since then that Guardiola's team failed to score at home — the other coming in a 0-0 with Arsenal in the league in March.

City extended its unbeaten home run in European games to 32, dating back to a 2-1 loss to Lyon in 2018.

Erling Haaland has looked unstoppable this season with nine goals in his first four games of the campaign before Wednesday match. But that run was snapped by Inter with the Norway striker stuck on 99 goals for City.

Haaland also failed to score against the Italians when the teams met in the Champions League final in 2023, which City won 1-0 to lift the trophy for the first time in its history.

“They are masters of defending,” Guardiola said.

With his contract expiring at the end of the season, Guardiola sounds like he's still loving life at City.

Asked by an Italian journalist if he could see himself working in Italy in the future, Guardiola said: "I really enjoy being here. I love English football, it is fantastic, really enjoyable. They leave you alone to get on with the job. That doesn't happen anywhere else.

“It's a great club. I really feel good being here.”

James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, left, and Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi, right, during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Martin Rickett/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland reacts after a missed scoring opportunity during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, right, shoots during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, left, gestures end of the first half during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Manchester City's Erling Haaland, right, and Inter Milan's Alessandro Bastoni, left, challenge for the ball during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (Nick Potts/PA via AP)

Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, center, gestures as he speaks medical staff end of the first half during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Manchester City and Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium, in Manchester, England, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Harry Kane and Bayern Munich are scoring a torrent of goals under new coach Vincent Kompany, but the England striker still thinks they're vulnerable.

Despite netting four times in Bayern's record-breaking 9-2 win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League on Tuesday, Kane seemed more concerned with the two soft goals the team conceded just after half-time.

“We need to learn. We spoke about, already this season, continuing the performance from the first half. Each first half we've played has been really good this season. The second half has kind of dropped off," Kane told broadcaster DAZN after the game.

"We got away with it today because we were able to step up another gear but against the top opposition we could get punished for that, so we need to try and iron that out.”

Bayern has scored a scarcely believable 24 goals in five games in all competitions under Kompany — nine of them by Kane — but hasn’t faced top-class opposition yet.

That means it's still an open question whether Kompany's Bayern is a better team than the one that finished an underwhelming third in the Bundesliga last season.

Against Zagreb, there were echoes of how Bayern played under Kompany’s predecessors Julian Nagelsmann and Thomas Tuchel — lots of goals, but fragile under pressure.

Zagreb scored back-to-back goals in the 49th and 50th minutes to expose glaring gaps at the back and briefly cut the deficit to 3-2. The positioning of central defenders Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae, who have been Bayern's first-choice partnership for a year, was a particular issue.

Bayern's next game is on Saturday at Werder Bremen, which beat Tuchel's team 1-0 in January. Bremen, ninth last season, will be Kompany's first opponent that finished in the top half of the table.

Despite Kompany's experience as a player, taking over at Bayern has been a big step up for a coach who was in charge of Burnley when that club was relegated from the English Premier League last season.

The former Belgium defender was far from Bayern's top choice, either. The club was stung by a very public failure to sign preferred targets like Bayer Leverkusen's Xabi Alonso or Germany's Nagelsmann — or even to persuade Tuchel to stay — before eventually landing on Kompany, who signed in May.

With a high-profile Bundesliga test coming on Sept. 28 against champion Leverkusen, Bayern doesn’t have long to iron out defensive problems.

Elsewhere in the league, two Champions League teams meet on Sunday as Stuttgart plays Borussia Dortmund. Leverkusen takes on Wolfsburg the same day and Leipzig visits promoted St. Pauli, which is without a league win since its coach Fabian Hürzeler left for Brighton in the close season.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern's head coach Vincent Kompany gestures to his players from the sidelines during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and GNK Dinamo at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Bayern's Harry Kane prepares to take a penalty kick during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Bayern Munich and GNK Dinamo at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)