Banega out for a month to add to Sevilla's woes

Sevilla will be without Ever Banega for up to a month after the influential midfielder suffered a sprained right knee.

The Argentina international was substituted at half-time during his club's 2-1 defeat to Celta Vigo on Sunday and Sevilla have confirmed that he sustained a grade-two sprain of his lateral collateral knee ligament.

Banega stands to miss high-profile fixtures including Barcelona's trip to the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan on October 3, which comes either side of Champions League encounters against Juventus and Manchester City.

The 27-year-old scored a second-half penalty when Sevilla began their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach last week, but they are yet to taste victory in La Liga so far this term, taking a meagre two points from four domestic fixtures.

Banega joins a lengthy list of walking wounded at Sevilla, with Nico Pareja, Daniel Carriço, Adil Rami, Beto, Gael Kakuta and Sergio Escudero all short of full fitness at present.

The former Valencia man is also unlikely to feature when Argentina begin their 2018 World Cup qualifying bid against Ecuador and Paraguay next month.