The CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) confirmed this Saturday (20) the existence of an injury to the right thigh of striker Raphinha.
The team’s number 11 felt pain in the region in the first half of Brazil’s 3-0 victory over Haiti, the day before. The athlete had to leave the match and was replaced by Rayan.
The CBF did not detail the severity of the injury suffered by Raphinha and did not offer a forecast for the athlete’s recovery or return.
“It’s a typical pattern of injury to [músculos] hamstrings. The player feels a sudden pain in the back of the thigh, during the race”, explains Adriano Marques de Almeida, doctor in the sports medicine group at the Institute of Orthopedics and Traumatology at Hospital das Clínicas da USP (University of São Paulo).
The specialist says that it is not possible to know the severity of the injury based solely on television images, but does not rule out the possibility of the striker returning to play in this World Cup.
“In an optimistic scenario, he could be recovered in 10 to 14 days”, says Almeida, who is also president of Sbrate (Brazilian Society of Arthroscopy and Sports Traumatology).
In a pessimistic recovery scenario, treatment may require more than a month away from the field. If this happens, Raphinha would no longer play in this World Cup.
Therefore, the absence of the Barcelona player in the game against Scotland, on Wednesday (24), is taken for granted. Coach Carlo Ancelotti could opt, for example, for Rayan or Endrick instead of number 11.
The CBF note also mentions the adoption of an “intensive treatment protocol”, which aims to recover and return the player in the shortest possible time.
“We focus less and less on rest and more on actively recovering mobility and muscle strength”, explains Almeida. “It is necessary to prevent the worsening of muscle damage and promote healing.” He also highlights that the protocol aims to reduce the risk of recurrence.
Recurring injuries
In Raphinha’s case, there are already four injuries to the back of his thigh in one year — he played 36 games for Barcelona last season before joining the Brazilian squad for the World Cup.
“Repeated injuries in the same place can form fibrosis, which often manifests itself as stretches that recover faster”, says André Lugnani, sports doctor and orthopedist at Unicamp (State University of Campinas).
Even so, the expert highlights that it is not possible to make statements about the athlete’s physical condition without due examination.
Lugnani also states that the 29-year-old striker’s experience may have mitigated the condition while still on the pitch: “The experienced athlete feels the symptom and often leaves [do jogo] before aggravating the injury.”
Raphinha left the pitch in Philadelphia (USA) walking in the match against Haiti, without needing to be carried.
