Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar admits luckless attacker Andrew Nabbout's latest brutal injury setback is hard to take as the A-League Men club brace for confirmation of an ACL tear.
City's 1-0 win over Western United on Monday night proved costly with Nabbout going down injured in the second half minutes after scoring the winner, while fellow Socceroo Marco Tilio injured his hamstring.
Nabbout injured his knee in relatively innocuous fashion, landing on his right leg after competing with United defender Charbel Shamoon in the 51st minute.
When asked if there were concerns of an ACL injury, Vidmar said: "At this stage it looks like it is, but we're gonna have to wait till he gets a scan so it's confirmed."
Nabbout, 31, had scored two goals in two games playing as City's main striker after overcoming an achilles injury suffered in 2023.
"That's what really hurts," Vidmar said.
"That's painful because he had two achilles operations last year, and just the other day, he was saying to me, 'All I want to do is play. All I want to do is play.'
"And he's had a good start to the season. So, yeah, that's hard to take, that one."
After all-time leading goal scorer Jamie Maclaren departed for India over the off-season, City have struggled to keep his potential replacements fit.
Young strikers Max Caputo and Arion Sulemani are currently injured.
If Nabbout is ruled out for the season, City may also have to consider a potential injury replacement player.
"That's another discussion with management this week," Vidmar said.
"So let's see where it goes."
Tilio, 23, was distraught on leaving the field and will also require scans after injuring his left hamstring in the first half.
Vidmar said Tilio had felt a "spasm" in his hamstring but didn't believe it felt as bad as the injury that ruined last season for him.
Socceroos winger Tilio has had multiple hamstring and quad injuries over the past two years.
"He's had an excellent pre-season," Vidmar said.
"Unfortunately, those guys who are just powerful animals like Tils, they're going to get one (injury) a season, potentially two a season.
"That's the difference with those types of players. They give you something extra that the others can't give with that explosive power.
"And you run the risk always, and we prepare them best as possible; they're strong, but it can happen."
City will cautiously hope to continue to build Mathew Leckie's fitness after the Socceroos veteran returned in the 78th minute from a pre-season calf issue.
Leckie, 33, was restricted to just 13 games and six starts through soft-tissue injuries last season.
"We've just got to give him a little bit of confidence, and he'll get that confidence by completing every training session and then completing as many minutes as possible," Vidmar said.
"He got about 15-20 minutes tonight. We'll look to increase that again next week, and then we go into a three-week break, so he should be sound."
