Plague of injuries: the FIFA virus attacks more than ever

Vinícius, Haaland, Camavinga or Ter Stegen.

Oliver Thansan
Oliver Thansan
19 November 2023 Sunday 15:29
6 Reads
Plague of injuries: the FIFA virus attacks more than ever

Vinícius, Haaland, Camavinga or Ter Stegen. These are the most notorious victims that the FIFA virus has claimed during this national team break. The last one is Gavi. The Los Palacios midfielder retired yesterday in the 23rd minute for Nuevo Zorrilla in the clash against Georgia and will miss the rest of the season with Barça, as well as Euro 2024 and possibly the Olympic Games.

At a time when footballers are subjected to an excessive load of matches, injuries continually appear, affecting the health of the players. "It was an accident. I came from resting due to cards the last day. We are in November and we have barely reached the middle of the season," De la Fuente explained yesterday at the end of the game about why he had not reserved Gavi.

However, the selection window is not over yet. There are still 14 qualifying matches to be played for Euro 2024 in which national teams such as France, Croatia, England, the Netherlands and Italy are involved. These meetings will take place this Monday and tomorrow, Tuesday. Therefore, new injuries could occur in the coming days.

The clubs do not want any of their players to suffer physical discomfort, although there are some teams that are already setting out a roadmap to recover their players. On the international level, Haaland left the concentration with Norway, after the blow he suffered last Thursday in the clash against the Faroe Islands.

The Norwegian team's doctor reported last week that "the injury is not serious" and that is why Manchester City's '9' is expected to face Liverpool this Saturday in the thirteenth matchday of the Premier League. At the national level, LaLiga is the competition most affected by this national team break: seven of the 13 injured players belong to the national championship.

As for Barça, they have Gavi and Ter Stegen injured. In the case of the culé goalkeeper, it is some discomfort in his back that forced him to leave the concentration with Germany, but that will not keep him away from the field of play for long. The Blaugrana club believes that these are not serious ailments.

Real Madrid faces the losses of Camavinga and Vinícius. The Brazilian was injured last Friday with the 'canarinha', during the South American qualifiers against Colombia and will be out for two and a half months due to a tear in his femoral biceps. The French midfielder's situation is even worse, since he will not be able to play any game as Merengue throughout 2023.

The Madrid club confirmed last week that Camavinga suffers a rupture of the external lateral ligament in his right knee, after Ousmané Dembelé involuntarily fell on the player during training with the French team.

Mikel Oyarzabal is another of the absences that LaLiga and, therefore, Real Sociedad faces. The Txuri-Urdin footballer injured his hamstring last Friday against Cyprus with Spain. Oyarzabal will miss at least the next league match with Imanol Alguacil's team against Sevilla and the Champions League match next Wednesday against Salzburg.

Vedat Muriq is also added to the injured list, with whom Javier Aguirre will not be able to count on for the next four to six weeks of the championship. The Mallorca player suffered a muscle injury to his left calf in the Kosovo match against Israel. Likewise, Mandi, Villarreal's central defender, is the last to join those affected in this national team break.

The Algerian defender was injured yesterday in the match against Mozambique and is a new casualty for Marcelino, who has recently joined the yellow submarine as coach, who recovers Alfonso Pedraza and Juan Foyth for the cause. This is not the case of Yeremi Pino and Alexander Sorloth, injuries confirmed last week.