Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanogly is likely to be out for five matches whilst recovering from the thigh strain that he suffered whilst on international duty.
This according to today’s print edition of Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, via FCInterNews, who report that the 29-year-old will likely be targeting the second leg of the Nerazzurri’s Champions League quarterfinal tie against Benfica to return to the pitch.
Yesterday Inter confirmed that Calhanoglu had suffered a thigh strain whilst on international duty, as the club’s medical staff assessed his problem.
The 29-year-old had been forced off the pitch as a substitute late on in the first half of Turkey’s EURO 2024 qualifying match against Croatia.
Sky Sport Italia provided a further update yesterday, confirming that the Turk would likely be out for two or three weeks, as they forecasted a 15-20 day stop for the Inter midfielder.
Given that the Nerazzurri are playing twice a week throughout the month of April, packing nine matches across all competitions into just thirty days, this always looked likely to entail Calhanoglu missing several matches during his recovery.
According to the Corriere, the number of matches that the Turk will miss is likely to be five.
If it had been hoped that the 29-year-old could be back in action in time to play a role in the first leg of the Nerazzurri’s Champions League quarterfinal tie against Benfica, the Corriere expects that this would be very unlikely.
Instead, it would be in the second leg of the tie at the San Siro that there would be hope for Calhanoglu to be back.
For the Corriere, Calhanoglu is likely to miss out on tomorrow’s Serie A match against Fiorentina as well as subsequent league matches against Salernitana and Monza.
Additionally, the midfielder should be ruled out of the Coppa Italia semifinal first leg against Juventus week, and the first leg against Benfica.
