It goes without saying that the 2020-21 season is going to be one of the most interesting any of us have ever witnessed due to Covid-19. We’re only several weeks into the season and the league has seen its fair share of drama (see- Juventus vs Napoli).
And of course, Inter Milan is going to be just as affected by the virus as everyone else (but more on that in a moment). All of this is to say Covid is going to dominate the headlines this season.
And because it’s so full of impact it’s going to find its way into these health reports and I will discuss them as needed. I feel confident in my abilities to speak on Covid, the disease course, and some of the long term impacts it has on health due to my experience working in hospitals with Covid patients over the course of the pandemic.
But for as much as we know about this disease, we still have yet to learn so much. Information is constantly emerging and our perspectives and means to treat people are changing with it. I will do my best to try to keep information as up-to-date as possible when discussing Covid in these posts.
And to that end should I have said something in a previous post that is now inaccurate due to new information, I will be issuing corrections in subsequent posts.
But now that that spiel is out of the way, I’d like to welcome you all back to the SempreInter Weekly Health Reports! Glad to have you back and hope wherever you are you and your loved ones are safe and healthy!
Upcoming Matches:
Inter vs Parma, Saturday October 31st, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, kick-off 18.00 CET
Real Madrid vs Inter, Tuesday November 3rd, Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, kick-off 21.00 CET
First Team Fitness:
Milan Skriniar: The biggest name to be missing. Unfortunately Skriniar tested positive for Covid-19 back on October 9th and has missed the past 3 matches.
Per recent reports, he remains in his native Slovakia and tested positive again several days ago, ensuring he’s going to be miss the upcoming match against Parma and likely the match against Real Madrid.
While the standard course for most people is 2 weeks before they go back to testing negative, the disease can vary so widely from person to person. In some extreme cases, people have been testing positive several months after being sick.
This isn’t to say Skriniar will be out for months. He could be back after the next week of matches. But the reality is that we don’t know when he’ll be able to return and how long it will take him to get back to fitness, whether he was symptomatic or not.
It’s been a heavy blow for Inter, especially in the Derby della Madonnina where he would have undoubtedly started over Aleksandar Kolarov. But at this point we have to wait and see and hope for the best for his return.
Roberto Gagliardini and Ionut Radu: Let’s go ahead and get all the Covid talk out of the way. Both players tested positive and missed the match vs Genoa and, due to their recent test results, the midweek match against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Both players are guaranteed to miss the match against Parma as well and their availability for the bench against Real Madrid is in question. Both players were likely to not be involved in the coming week’s matches regardless of availability so the positive is that the squad is largely unaffected. But the hope is that both players will be back and able to compete soon.
Stefano Sensi: After serving his suspension for the Milan derby Sensi unfortunately missed last week’s match against Borrusia Monchengladbach after experiencing thigh muscle fatigue in practice.
After evaluation by the team’s physio he’s now missed both the match against Genoa and Shakhtar. His status moving forward is unknown as the club have yet to provide much information about his health, but the hope is that the muscle injury isn’t serious and he’s been rested as precaution.
Alexis Sanchez: A mid-match loss against Monchengladbach last week. He was substituted at halftime due to what the club called a right adductor injury (aka- thigh strain).
We haven’t gotten much information from the club about the severity of the injury and expected time out. At this point losing Alexis does hurt as he provided quality depth at striker to spell both Lautaro Martinez and Romelu Lukaku. In the meantime, Andrea Pinamonti will step up and try to fill the role Alexis has played for the club.