Federico Chiesa subbed off vs. Roma with sprained knee (UPDATED)

As Paulo Dybala’s goal hit the back of the net, the tantalizing thought of La Joya combining with Federico Chiesa more and more as Sunday night’s game against Roma went on became a definite possibility. There it was, Juve’s two best offensive threats combining for a beautiful goal and giving the team hope again after going behind early.

And then, just like that, it was gone.

Chiesa was forced to be subbed off late in the first half after initially going down with a knee injury and then trying to gut it out a few minutes later. About a half-hour later, Juventus announced that Chiesa, who took a long time to walk from the far side of the field to the bench as two trainers supported him along the way, suffered a sprained knee and that his condition in the morning as the team makes their return to Turin.

As you can imagine, his status for Wednesday night’s Supercoppa against Inter Milan is very much in doubt.

Chiesa’s knee injury comes all of two games after he came back from a thigh injury kept him out for the final month of 2021, a stretch in which Juve somewhat surprisingly narrowed the gap between themselves and Atalanta in the race for Serie A’s final Champions League spot.

But with the way he both reacted on the field — especially after the second time he went down without any kind of contact from the man marking him — and then could barely walk with any kind of pace as he went off the field, it’s going to be very interesting to see just how severe this injury ends up being after he undergoes scans at J Medical. He could very well be out a couple of weeks — and maybe that could feel like a sigh of relief considering how much pain he looked to be in. Or it could be worse than that — which might not be surprising considering how much pain he looked to be in.

Either way, now we anxiously await the post on Juve’s official website to see just how long Chiesa will be out for. Here’s to hoping it’s better news than where my head keeps going.

UPDATE NO. 1: Multiple members of the Italian press are reporting that there are fears amongst the Juventus management and training teams that Chiesa could have suffered ligament damage Sunday night. According to Massimiliano Nerozzi of the Corriere di Torino and Fabiana Della Valle of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Juve are worried about the seriousness of Chiesa’s injury, with scans to reveal the true extent of it come Monday.

Juventus assistant coach Marco Landucci, who filled in for the suspended Max Allegri against Roma, said the following regarding Chiesa’s injury: “The only negative note, a sprained knee, he will be assessed tomorrow.”