Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini is set to be sidelined for the Bianconeri’s next three matches after re-injuring his calf in Sunday night’s 2-0 victory over Hellas Verona.
The dream debuts of Dusan Vlahovic and Denis Zakaria dominated the headlines on Monday as both scored in the victory. It was the first time two Juventus debutants had scored in the same game since 2011 when Stefan Lichtsteiner and Arturo Vidal scored on their Bianconeri bows in the first Serie A game held at the Allianz Stadium.
However, the OId Lady were dealt a blow in the aftermath of Sunday’s triumph after it was revealed that Chiellini had been forced off with 15 minutes remaining due to a calf issue. The veteran has had numerous calf injuries throughout his career, and his latest problem is expected to keep him out of action for a couple of weeks.
Giorgio Chiellini is expected to miss the next three matches with a calf injury
Medical update on @chiellini.
— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) February 8, 2022
Reports started to emerge on Monday that Chiellini’s injury was a little more serious than initially feared and some outlets speculated that he could miss the rest of February as a result.
On Tuesday, the dogged centre-back underwent “radiological scans” at J | Medical and the club confirmed in a statement that he’s suffered a “low-grade lesion of the deep musculature of the left calf”.
Romeo Agresti adds that Chiellini will miss Juventus’ upcoming fixtures against Sassuolo, Atalanta and Torino with his status for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 tie away at Villarreal on February 22 surely in question as well.
In his place, Leonardo Bonucci and Daniele Rugani will likely share minutes alongside the undroppable Matthijs de Ligt. Juventus coped admirably amid a centre-back availability crisis in January and they’ll have to hold firm without their indefatigable veteran for the next few games.