Inter Milan are Serie A champions. I haven’t had the opportunity to say that since the 2020-21 team clinched the Scudetto and after 11 very, very long years it feels very good to see it typed out.
It just is so unfortunate that for all of us fans that joy lasted only a few days before the wheels came off the bus. There’s no need to revisit everything that happened and re-experience the anguish it caused.
At this point what matters is Inter are Serie A’s defending champions and have all the pressures of a title defense on their shoulder.
A lot remains to be seen if this team can pull off the defense and manager Simone Inzaghi will be hoping to start filling the shoes of his predecessor by getting off to a flying start.
But to do that, he’ll need the help and health of the remaining star players on his roster. Injuries remain a part of sports and making sense of those injuries, the outlook, and impact on the team is what we at SempreInter are here to do.
Welcome back to the Weekly Health Report!
Upcoming Matches:
FC Inter Milan vs Genoa CFC, Saturday August 21st, Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, kickoff 18:30 CET
First Team Fitness:
Lautaro Martinez: Already down 1 star striker for reasons only Steven Zhang can comprehend, Inzaghi unfortunately will be starting his career as manager down his other star striker, as the Argentinian is suspended for the upcoming match against Genoa for accumulating too many yellow cards.
Compounding this, El Toro also seems to have suffered a small injury to his psoas muscle—a muscle that flexes the hip, lifts the leg, and aids in rotating the leg outwards.
There doesn’t seem to be much concern regarding his injury and the club seems to be targeting a return for the match against Hellas Verona at the end of the month which suggests the injury may not have been severe.
However it is still something to keep an eye on should he miss more than this weekend’s match
Alexis Sanchez: Not only is Inzaghi without Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez, he is also going to be without his backup striker.
The Chilean picked up a calf injury on July 12th while playing in the Copa America that he continues to suffer from. The club initially hoped he would be fit enough to return for the season opener but that proved to be unrealistic.
There hasn’t been much chatter around the 32 year old’s health, but until further word comes from the club or Sanchez’s representatives he should be considered week to week.
Roberto Gagliardini: Unfortunately the Italian midfielder suffered a training injury at the end of July that has since been announced to be an Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) strain (sprain or tear depending on who you ask—all 3 words mean the same thing).
The MCL, also known as the Tibial Collateral Ligament, is one of the four major knee ligaments that connect the femur to the lower leg.
It functions to provide stability to the knee by preventing unnecessary movement towards the sides of the leg.
It is a fairly commonly injured ligament and the most common mechanism of injury is when contact is made with the outside of the knee causing an excessive pulling and strain on the interior of the knee (think Danilo D’Ambrosio’s injury against Sampdoria in January 2021).
Inter Milan haven’t officially disclosed the severity of the injury. However, we have heard different reports suggesting his timeline for return is anywhere from 15 to 20 days to approximately 1 month.
Based on this information, we can assume he is sitting somewhere in between a Grade I to Grade II injury. His prognosis should be good as management of MCL injuries of this degree is conservative and is rarely associated with long term chronic knee instability issues.
Regardless of if he is out 2 weeks or a full month, Inter will likely take their time bringing him back to ensure he doesn’t reaggravate the injury