With the kind of playing style that he has, Blaise Matuidi is a tough son of a gun. He runs more than anybody, he covers as much ground as anybody and, unsurprisingly, he is one of Juventus’ most-used players this season.
So when you see him go down in a heap of pain like he did in the second half of Sunday night’s win over Milan at Allianz Stadium, you had to figure something was up.
And, well, there was something.
Juventus announced on Monday that Matuidi has undergone scans at J Medical and has been diagnosed with a broken rib and will not head to France during the international break to meet up with his national team teammates. The brief statement from Juventus’ official website:
Blaise Matuidi will not participate in the National Team retreat with France, after he withdrew from yesterday’s match against Milan.
The midfielder today underwent an MRI scan today, which showed a fracture of the cartilage of the tenth rib.
As you can see, there is no timetable as to how much time Matuidi will actually miss, just the fact that he won’t report to training camp with the France national team. All the likes of Tuttosport and other Italian media outlets quote is the press release that Juventus released about Matuidi being out of France’s next two games.
So, feel free to Google how long it takes for a broken rib to completely heal and report back.
The obvious thought that comes after figuring out that Matuidi is going to miss at least a few weeks of action is the fact that this opens the door for his countryman, Adrien Rabiot, in the starting lineup. Not at the international level — that place has been filled by Arsenal midfielder Matteo Guendouzi — but with Juventus. Rabiot has been the natural replacement for Matuidi and was the one to come on for him in the second half of Sunday’s game.
You have to think that, at the very least, the Atalanta game right out of the international break is in doubt for Matuidi, meaning Rabiot should be in the starting lineup for at least one game. And that could be an extended stretch if it takes more than just a couple of weeks for Matuidi to fully recover from his broken rib.