Cote D’Ivoire star player Gervinho picked up an injury during their score draw with Equatorial Guinea in a friendly international at the weekend, and this will be a serious concern for his Italian club Roma.

The Elephants drew 1-1 against the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) hosts on Sunday evening. Iban Salvador Edu scored an early goal for the visiting side, before substitute Max Gradel equalised 20 minutes before the final whistle in Abidjan.

Gervinho started the match, but on 37 minutes he was forced to leave the pitch with a thigh injury. Coach Herve Renard replaced him with Wilfried Bony.

In the week’s earlier friendly match, the AFCON champions beat Angola 2-0, with Roma’s other Ivorian international, Seydou Doumbia, taking part in the victory before returning to the Italian capital as agreed with the Cote D’Ivoire Football Federation (FIF) and Roma coach Rudi Garcia.

But Garcia will now be concerned that one of his top performers could miss some game time through injury. Following the Equatorial Guinea match Gervinho immediately travelled back to Italy in order to do the necessary scans and tests to determine the extent of his injury.

With two Serie A goals and three assists to his name for this season, the skilful speedster has been one of the reasons why the Giallorossi find themselves second in the Italian top flight.