London: English football giants Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has urged star striker Sergio Aguero to "listen to his body" and not play for Argentina in their next set of World Cup qualifiers if he hasn't recovered fully from his current hamstring injury.

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Aguero, who equalled an English Premier League (EPL) record by scoring five goals in his last match against Newcastle, was subsequently injured on international duty last week and faces at least three weeks on the sidelines, missing Wednesday's Champions League tie against Sevilla as well as the Manchester derby.

It remains a possibility, however, that Argentina will still want to pick Aguero for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Brazil on November 13 and Colombia four days later. Argentina have collected just one point from their two matches so far and two defeats next month would put their participation in Russia 2018 at serious risk.

"He's a very explosive player who is always running and when he feels that something is not 100 percent, he must listen to his body and take care because they are special muscles," Pellegrini was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk on Sunday.

"I received a lot of criticism because Sergio didn't finish the Newcastle game but he had received an important kick in the muscle from the previous game against Borussia Monchengladbach, so I knew that he was not 100 percent fit," the 62-year-old Chilean added.

"Unfortunately for him, he then picked up a muscle injury with his national team. But I hope that this will be an experience for him also to take more care of himself."