He's been struggling with a bruised leg for a few weeks, and taking painkillers for it before matches. And that's probably why he was able to play on for the full 90 minutes against Villarreal on Tuesday despite hurting the knee early in the match.

"Early in the match, I took a blow to the knee", he says, "I heard it crunch and thought I might have to be substituted. But the pain died down, I felt better and played the full 90 minutes."

Since Tuesday he's seen a specialist and there was a worry of serious cartilage damage. But it turns out that the meniscus is ok and that while there is other minor damage around the joint, and it's pretty sore, he should be able to play on with the continued help of painkillers. So any surgery will be left until after the Champs League final, and he'll have a week of rest, massage, and physio to try to keep him in shape for Paris on the 17th.

No Hleb against Sunderland, that's for sure.

Freddie Ljungberg has also been playing through pain for a while (and needing his foot drained after each match because of the swelling). But they've both been doing fine (not that a few more goals from the pair of them wouldn't have gone amiss this season) and having at least one of them available for Paris is clearly a must.

Following his appearance for the reserves last night, Ashley Cole has been added to the squad to face Sunderland on Monday. But as well as Hleb, Gilberto (ankle), Mathieu Flamini (hamstring), Theo Walcott (knee), Philippe Senderos (knee, possibly out for the season) and Jose Antonio Reyes (wisdom tooth just been extracted), are all going to miss the game.