Shanghai SIPG will go into the first leg of their Asian Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday with major doubts over the fitness of playmaker Dario Conca after the Argentinian was carried off during their 4-1 win over Shijiazhuang Ever Bright with a knee injury.
Conca, 33, who won the continental title with Guangzhou Evergrande in 2013, was taken to hospital after a clash with goalkeeper Guan Zhen in the 57th minute, just three minutes after giving his side the lead.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson claimed the injury was not a recurrence of one that has hampered Conca in recent seasons, but the situation would only become clear after further tests.
"Conca's injury is irrelevant to his old injury," said the Swede. "It is the other knee. Now he is in the hospital, and we will know better in a few hours. I hope it is not that bad. It is probably because he fell and hurt his knee when landing."
Shanghai meet former Asian champions Jeonbuk Motors in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Tuesday and Choi Kang-Hee, the head coach of the South Korean side, was in the crowd as Eriksson's side won on Friday evening.
Choi was on hand to see Fu Huan give Shanghai SIPG the lead after just 10 minutes before Matheus Nascimento levelled the scores for Shijiazhuang.
Conca, though, put his side back in front in the 54th minute before a penalty from Elkeson and a fourth from Wu Lei 15 minutes from time sealed the win and moved Shanghai back up to third in the Chinese Super League standings.
"It is easy to summarise today's game," said Eriksson. "We had a normal first half, a so-so defence. But in the second half we increased our performance, the players worked harder for possession, and we had more opportunities.
"We know we will have a tough next game. Fortunately we are physically not bad. You can tell from the second half. We ran more and had more chances. This will be our mission next Tuesday.
"We will have a very strong opponent. If we can't have a good 90 minutes, things will become very difficult. But let's talk about that in the next press conference."
Chinese Super League record signing Hulk, who has played just once since signing for the club from Zenit St Petersburg, remains a doubt for the game but Korean defender Kim Ju-Young is expected to be fit, despite missing Friday's game as a precaution.