Federico Chiesa to miss Italy’s Euro 2024 qualifiers due to muscle issue

We say it all the time during the two-week periods of time known as international breaks but it bears repeating: We really hope that players go to their respective national teams and come back healthy even though we know that is never going to happen.

The latest just so happens to involve one of Juventus’ most important players.

Federico Chiesa has been ruled out the Italian national team’s upcoming pair of games due to a reported muscle injury that he picked up in training this week. Chiesa has since returned to Turin, with Italy’s announcement saying that the Azzurri’s medical staff and those at Juventus already being in contact regarding Chiesa’s current condition. With his withdrawing from the squad, Chiesa won’t take part in Italy’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia — ugh, them again?! — and Ukraine on Saturday and Tuesday, respectively.

However, there does appear to be some good news when it comes to this sudden concern surrounding Chiesa and his match fitness. That is according to Tuttosport on Friday night, as the Turin-based sports news outlet reported that Chiesa has already made his way back to Turin and undergone tests at J Medical. Those tests have revealed, much in the same lines as Paul Pogba earlier this week, that there is no muscle strains or pulls taking place, instead simply muscle fatigue that will be hopefully cleared up with a little rest.

The thing is, though, with the reported muscle fatigue, it’s suddenly hard to say what Chiesa’s availability for next Saturday’s showdown with Lazio in Turin. If Max Allegri decides to take the cautious approach and not start Chiesa after he’s dealing with muscle fatigue, it would likely result in either Arek Milik or Moise Kean getting their first starts of the season alongside Dusan Vlahovic.

Chiesa has started all of Juve’s first three games of the 2023-24 season, scoring two goals and showing signs that he was on his way to returning to his pre-injury form despite being played out of position.