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With Mirko Vucinic still struggling to regain full fitness after suffering an injury against Galatasaray earlier this month, it seemed like Fabio Quagliarella was bound to get some more playing time. It's simple math, really — fewer options are available to Antonio Conte, thus creating more of a likelihood that stepping on the field would happen.
Well, a couple days after the reports of Vucinic missing Sunday's match against Fiorentina and Real Madrid three days later, the injury bug has jumped and bit another striker. A certain Quagliarella, to be exact.
From Juventus' official website:
Fabio Quagliarella picked up an injury yesterday, and tests which he underwent this morning have revealed damage to his right adductor longus muscle. He is expected to be out of action for 20 days.
Well that sucks.
Conte has basically seen two strikers become unavailable to him in a matter of about 48 hours. Maybe Vucinic is a different case because his nagging injury won't go away, but Quagliarella's thigh strain comes out of the blue. Out of all the potential injuries to happen during the international break, you don't expect somebody who was on international duty to get hurt...right? I guess that's just my line of thinking. Feel free to draw you our if you would like.
Llorente & Tevez for Juve against Real Madrid then. God speed.
— Ivo Andov (@ivoandov) October 16, 2013
Word.
If there was ever a time for Fernando Llorente to show that he's really starting to adjust to Conte's system and life in Italy, this would be it. The chances haven't come in bunches for Llorente like some of us thought they might after his move from Athletic Bilbao, but you would have to think now with two strikers out of the equation, his first legit opportunity for consistent playing time is looking him right in the face.
And what better place to do some damage than in your first trip back to Spain?