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The Arturo Vidal injury news is real. It is happening, no matter how much we dislike it. When the post went up on Juventus' official website Tuesday that said Vidal was dealing with some pain in his thigh, that feeling you had in your stomach was the collective knot taking shape of Juve fans everywhere.
But the one thing missing from yesterday's initial injury news — how long Vidal would be missing in action. Well, 24 hours after the news broke that Vidal was in fact injured, we (unofficially) found out King Arturo is going to be out for, as both Tuttosport and the Corriere dello Sport are reporting Vidal is out for at least the next 20 days.
Officially, this is all we know. From juventus.com:
After sitting out yesterday's training in Vinovo, Arturo Vidal today underwent medical tests which revealed a light strain of the semitendinosus muscle in his right thigh.
The 27-year-old has immediately begun a rehabilitation programme and further examinations to monitor his progress are scheduled for next week.
Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. Not good news. Not one bit.
The reported three-week period that Vidal will miss comes at a point in the season when things are truly about to get hectic. With the 20 or so days he will miss, these are the games he will certainly miss because of this latest injury development:
- Saturday night's home opener against Udinese.
- Juventus Champions League group stage opener against Malmö on Tuesday night.
- Juventus' trip to the San Siro next Saturday night, Sept. 20, to play Milan in the first official leg of the Max Allegri Reunion Tour.
- Cesena's trip to Juventus Stadium on Sept. 24.
- Juventus' visit to Bergamo to face Atalanta on the final Saturday of the month of September.
There are two notable games there that will happen in quick succession in October — Juventus' trip to Spain to face Atlético Madrid on Oct. 1 and the showdown with Roma in Turin four days later. The simple math of the timetable laid out by the Juventus medical staff would put Vidal on pace to be healthy for the Atlético matchup, but who really knows. If there's one thing Juve need to do, it's make sure Vidal is completely healthy before he
We don't know if this injury was caused by the nagging knee injury that saw everybody sweat about his status before — and after — the World Cup. Maybe they're related, maybe they're not. It's possible they are. But I'm not a doctor, so it's not like I know everything there is to know about athletic training.
What I do know is that we won't be seeing the man below for the next three weeks at the very least.
Get well and be ready to go in a few weeks, buddy. We'll see you on the flip side when you're 100 percent healthy. YOU HEAR ME, 100 PERCENT HEALTHY AND READY TO GO. Sorry, I couldn't help it.
