Pep Guardiola has sent a message to Virgil van Dijk wishing for a speedy recovery from injury, while admitting he "will miss him" when Man City play Liverpool on Sunday.
The two Premier League title rivals meet for the first time this season but Liverpool will have to make the trip to The Etihad without their commanding centre-half for the first time in over three years.
Van Dijk looks to be ruled out for much of the season with the anterior cruciate ligament injury he sustained against Everton last month.
"The most important thing is that the surgery was good and I hope he can recover as quickly as possible," Guardiola said in his press conference on Friday.
A similar injury sidelined City's Aymeric Laporte for the best part of five months last season, significantly de-railing their title prospects.
But while the loss of van Dijk is a notable advantage to City, Guardiola feels Sunday's match is worse off without the Dutchman's presence, though is still not taking anything for granted.
"I will miss him, I like to play with the best players on the pitch and Liverpool remains an incredibly top team because the structure is there, every player knows what they have to do and the result against Atalanta - we faced them last season and know how hard it is to beat them away - and they did it. Liverpool remains a top class team."
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Jurgen Klopp has had to shuffle through his defensive options as injury after injury followed that of van Dijk's.
The Reds have been boosted by the return to fitness of Joel Matip however, who is expected to feature alongside Joe Gomez at the back.
Liverpool are also without midfielder Thiago Alcantara against City after failing to recover from his recent injury lay-off, while Guardiola has ruled out Sergio Aguero playing any part.
