Saudi Arabia's star forward and captain Nassir Al Shamrani has been ruled out of the AFC Asian Cup due to injury, the football tournament's offical website said.
Shamrani was the AFC Player of the Year for 2014, his unspecified injury was aggravated during a 0-2 friendly defeat to South Korea Jan 4, and Al Nassr' s Ibrahim Ghaleb will be his backup, reports Xinhua.
Saudi Arabia will start their campaign in the AFC Asian Cup against China here Saturday.
"Al Shamrani is a very good player, a very important player to any team," Saudi Arabian midfielder Saud Kariri said.
"But, if he plays or doesn't play, we have a good squad of 23 players and everybody is ready to give it his 100 percent." he added.