The Blues’ skipper left the Etihad Stadium on crutches on Wednesday evening after injuring his knee against Real Madrid but will be assessed on Saturday before a decision is made on whether he can play or not.
Mancini also revealed Gael Clichy is definitely out but there was better news regarding Mario Balotelli.
“I hope Vinnie can recover but we won’t know until tomorrow,” said the City boss. “He is strong so there is a chance, but we will make a final decision on Saturday. Mario trained on Thursday so should be OK but Gael is still injured.”
The City boss thinks Chelsea bringing in Rafa Benitez will make an already hard game even tougher, with players out to impress their new boss in his first game in charge.
“Usually when a club changes their manager, there is a reaction in the next game so for this reason, I think this match will be even harder now,” he said.
“Chelsea are one of the best teams in Europe and have won everything in the last ten years so this will be a very hard game for us. They have fantastic players and were playing very well at the start of the season.
“I feel very sorry for Roberto Di Matteo because he did very well and won the FA Cup and Champions League after just a few months in charge, but this is our life and these things can happen in management.
“Three or four games ago they were playing fantastic football and were at the top of the Premier League so we know they are a strong team, particularly at home, and this was always going to be a hard trip.
“But, having said that, we want to remain unbeaten and it would be a great game for us to win and a very important result but we will have to be at our best to take three points home.”
