That’s the opinion of Blues boss Sven-Goran Eriksson, who saw the Brazilian fail to shake off the effects of a cynical foul by Michael Brown in the draw with Wigan.
Opponents have clamped down on the 27-year-old playmaker following the impact he made after his arrival last summer, but does Sven think that the attention paid to him and City’s downturn in results are connected?
“That may be too simple, I remember the games from early this season when he was allowed to do his thing, but there was no chance of that against Wigan.
“Sides make sure they stay close to him, and the treatment they give him is not the nicest, but it’s another thing that both the team and Elano himself have to live with because he is too good a player to be left alone.
“He took a knock from Brown in the first half, then when he tried a diagonal ball in the second half he felt a muscle pushing a little bit. We don’t know how bad it is, but the muscle has not ‘gone’ as such so it’s not a serious injury. But for next weekend I don’t know yet.”
Former Blue Brown was shown the yellow card for his challenge, in contrast to the straight red shown to Martin Petrov for hardly connecting when kicking out at Leon Osman the week before, decisions that Sven ruefully accepts.
“We have to accept that the referee does not just give yellow cards for dangerous play. They also show them for stupid things that happen, the Petrov and Aliadiere incidents were not dangerous at all. I suppose that the authorities want to stop players setting a bad example.”
