OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL: Federico Chiesa’s season is over after suffering ACL injury

Federico Chiesa’s facial expression as he slowly made his way to the front door of J Medical Monday morning pretty much said it all. Walking with the heavy assistance of crutches and with his father, Enrico, by his side, the usually jovial Chiesa was anything but that as he gave a very subdued “Ciao, ragazzi, buongiorno,” to the small group of assembled media and then took one small step in front of the other.

After a little more than an hour, Chiesa made his way out of the Juventus medical facility, with nothing looking all that much better and his mood still very much a downtrodden one.

We now officially know why.

Juventus announced later in the day Monday that the worst fears regarding Chiesa’s knee injury suffered in the first half of Juventus’ wild 4-3 win over Roma are now a reality. Scans at J Medical have revealed that Chiesa suffered a torn ACL in his left knee and will likely miss somewhere around the next six months — ending his season and suddenly putting a serious halt to the fast rise of Italy’s best young stars. Chiesa will undergo surgery in the next few days, with the goal of having him ready to go come the start of the 2022-23 campaign.

The official wording of Chiesa’s diagnosis from Juventus’ website:

During yesterday’s match, Federico Chiesa felt a blunt trauma sprain to his left knee.

The diagnostic tests performed this morning at J|Medical revealed an injury of the anterior cruciate ligament.

It will be necessary for the player to undergo surgery in the next few days.

There you have it, everybody. Unfortunately, Juventus’ 4-3 win over Roma in the second game of 2022 is going to be the last time we see Chiesa and his explosive style of play for a good amount of time.

That is something that became a legitimate fear as time went on following the final whistle Sunday night, with reports in the Italian media coming out an hour or two after Juve celebrated their win that those in charge at the club were seriously fearing a long-term injury absence for Chiesa. As he arrived at J Medical on Monday morning, the expression and body language Chiesa had as he slowly made his way to the the front door of J Medical pretty much said it all, with a 24-year-old and his big-time personality almost bracing for what’s about to officially come down.

None of it was good news. And now we’re left to wonder where Juve go from here as arguably their best player is out for the foreseeable future.

It’s tough to see anybody get hurt. But when it’s somebody like Chiesa who has been so good over the last 12 months and is on the brink of stardom like he is, it’s just that much more of a punch to the gut. Chiesa is one to root for no matter what because of how good of a dude he seems to be, and Juve’s going to miss him both on the field and off of it.