Claudio Marchisio injury: Juventus midfielder's first stage in rehab process is delayed

As I sat and watched the Scudetto celebrations after work last night, I noticed somebody wasn't there with all of his teammates. It was Claudio Marchisio. I figured it was knee injury-related, but mainly because the club didn't want him to somehow stumble over an over zealous Leonardo Bonucci or Paul Pogba as they tried to go absolutely buck wild.

Little did we know there was injury-related news to follow.

And not exactly the most encouraging injury-related news, either.

Here is the Marchisio injury update that the Juventus website provided us on Sunday afternoon:

Having missed out on yesterday's Scudetto ceremony as a precaution, Claudio Marchisio is continuing his rehabilitation regime at Juventus Center following knee surgery last month.

Inflammation of the knee after the operation had delayed the first stage of the midfielder's specialised fitness programme and arthroscopic cleansing was also required.

Upon gradual improvement of Marchisio's current state, Juventus' medical staff still expect the 30-year-old to make a return to training in the six month-period originally forecasted.

Okay, so same six-month timetable. But, when you read "delayed the first stage of the midfielder's specialised fitness programme" and "arthroscopic cleansing was also required," you're not exactly filled with brimming optimism. But, as the last sentence in the medical update states, Juventus are still expecting Marchisio to be back in the same time period that was originally set out.

Let's just hope this inflammation in his surgically-repaired knee is just a minor blip on the radar that other folks who have major ACL injuries deal with. (Which, I am under the assumption that it is.) We'll be waiting patiently for the next medical update. I sure hope there's no talk of more stages in the rehab process being delayed, too.