Jose Mourinho says he fears Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld has suffered a potentially long-term injury.
The Belgian defender was forced off during Spurs' 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday evening, leaving the Portuguese manager hoping for the best over his senior centre-back.
He was replaced by Wales youngster Joe Rodon, who could now be set for an extended run in the side.
Rodon made his home debut against City having impressed once again on international duty for Wales, taking the armband in the win over Finland in midweek.
Mourinho says it is now a big opportunity for Rodon in the coming weeks as Spurs face up to losing Alderweireld for an extended period.
Asked if the knock looked long term, the boss told Sky Sports: "I would say so.
"I just feel sorry for Toby. He did a fantastic performance, he has an important injury. It's the injury of fatigue. It's the injury that happens.
"But it was an opportunity for (Joe) Rodon to come into a game of this dimension and difficulty. So, let's go. Thursday we have another one."
In his post-match press conference, Mourinho added some meat to the bones over the groin complaint suffered by the former Southampton man, while also making an admission over Rodon. The recent arrival is not named in the club's Europa League squad, meaning Mourinho's options are further limited in European competition.
He added: "It's bad. It's bad. It's a muscular injury in the adductor. The dimension of course we don't know, we have to wait, but it's a difficult injury for sure.
"In the Premier League we have three centre-backs, in the Europa League we don't have Joe Rodon, we only have two, but that's the way it is.
"We don't have anybody to blame. He played in the international matches that the team needed to win to qualify for the final four. With us he's playing so well we decided to play him rather than rest him.
"There's nobody to blame, just to recover as soon as possible."
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