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Much to the surprise of some, Martín Cáceres' separated shoulder against Atlético Madrid didn't see the Uruguayan defender miss any time on the field. The same can't be said for the injury Cáceres suffered just a few days later against Roma that saw him go straight from the field to the dressing room in a matter of moments.
After seeing his hamstring go "TWING!" against Roma on Sunday, Cáceres has undergone tests and been subsequently ruled out a month, according to a statement released by the club Tuesday. The officially official injury news statement, courtesy of juventus.com:
Martin Caceres today underwent medical tests after departing Sunday's clash with Roma due to an injury sustained during the closing stages of the first-half.
These examinations have revealed a first-second degree tear of the semitendinosus muscle in the defender's left thigh. He is expected to be out of action for approximately four weeks.
And, by quick math, about a month from now Juventus will be at the end of another hectic three-week period of games. So that means Cáceres will be be healthy enough for selection when either Olympiakos or Parma visit Juventus Stadium on Nov. 4 and 9, respectively, or when Juve come out of the next bring international break and travel to Rome to play Lazio.
But there's no doubting he will miss games against Sassuolo, Palermo, Genoa and Empoli, as well as Juventus' trip to Greece in the Champions League on Oct. 22. That's five games at the very least, which pretty much sucks.
Outside of losing Juventus' best defender this season, there's another problem with Cáceres being out for an extended period of time — it leaves them with just three healthy center backs. That's Leonardo Bonucci, Angelo Ogbonna and Giorgio Chiellini, if you're keeping track at home. Could that push Max Allegri to consider switching to a four-man defense for the upcoming fixtures? Well, it could in theory. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see if Allegri will temporarily scrap the 3-5-2 formation due to all these stupid injuries at the back.
At least Ogbonna is playing well this season, so we have that going for us.
