David Silva has revealed he has been missing from the Manchester City side because his prematurely-born baby son is fighting for his life.
Silva missed Manchester City's matches against Newcastle and Crystal Palace in order to spend time with his family.
The Spaniard returned to the side last night and his manager Pep Guardiola revealed he was experiencing personal problems.
Silva has now taken to Twitter to explain his absence.
He wrote: "I want to thank all of you for the love and good wishes received in the last few weeks, special thanks to my teammates, the manager and all at the club for understanding my situation.
"Also I want to share with you the birth of my son Mato, who was born extremely preterm and is fighting day by day with the help of the medical team."
Silva impressed on his return to action but Manchester City's manager warned he could be missing again in the coming weeks.
“We are very happy David is back, we don’t know how long, but he made another exhibition,” said Guardiola. “He’s essential, he showed how important he is for us.
“He’s free to stay or leave, it depends. He wants to stay because he enjoys it, but family is the most important thing in life.
“It doesn’t matter if we drop a lot of points, I’d never push him.
“Some days he will be here some he will be out, it depends how his family is.”