Paulo Dybala injury: Juventus striker suffers first or second degree hamstring tear against Milan

The attempt by Paulo Dybala to try and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma from midfield in the first half of Juventus’ 1-0 loss to Milan on Saturday night was audacious to say the very least. The result of it, however, may well have a lingering impact beyond just the next couple fixtures.

Juventus announced that Dybala, who had to be subbed off just a few minutes after his super-long-range effort went wide of Donnarumma’s goal in the first half, has suffered “minor” damage to his right hamstring. There has initially been no exact timetable set out for how long Dybala will be out of action. But, considering that the word “tear” has been used in the brief medical update, then it’s likely a case where La Joya will miss at least a couple of games over the course of the next two or three weeks.

From Juventus’ official website:

Medical examinations on Paulo Dybala have revealed that the Argentine sustained a severe knock to the posterior region of his right thigh in an incident with caused him to be withdrawn through injury during last night's match against Milan at the San Siro.

Specifically, today's scan confirmed minor damage to the muscle, between first and second degree tearing, with the player set to further assessed in the coming days to better define the gravity of the injury.

So what does this all mean?

Well, I guess we don’t know, at least right now, how long Dybala will be out for. Gianluca Di Marzio is reporting that Dybala will probably be out for the next 15 days or so — which is something that is along the same lines of initial reports in the first couple of hours after Juventus’ loss at the San Siro on Saturday night. The problem is, of course, with a two-week absence at the very least, that means Dybala does miss a stretch of games that includes a showdown with Napoli as well as Lyon’s trip to Juventus Stadium to kick off the return matches in the Champions League group stage.

Throw in the fact that Marko Pjaca is still out injured and Mario Mandzukic is just back from his own brief injury absence, and it’s not like Max Allegri currently has an abundance of options up top to choose from as his team enters the middle of a stretch of seven games in a three-week period of time.

But now we wait to see just how long Dybala is out for. I guess we can only hope for the best when it comes to this. If it’s a couple of weeks that Dybala is out for, I guess it’s better than what the alternative could have been.