The announcement was made this Friday by Sérgio Conceição at the launch of Saturday’s match in the Algarve against Portimonense (6pm, SportTV1). The central Pepe suffered a sprained knee during Thursday’s training session “with some seriousness” and will miss the match with the algravios and a few more matches. According to the Dragons Clinical Bulletin, it is a left knee sprain with internal collateral ligament injury, which, according to specialists consulted by the DN, will take at least a month to stop.
The issue is relevant not only because of the difficulty of some of FC Porto’s upcoming matches (from the 12th with Bayer Leverkusen, for the Champions, and on the 21st with Benfica, for the Championship), but also because that the defender is in danger of missing the World Cup in Qatar, just weeks away from the announcement of the final shortlist – the World Cup will be played between November 20 and December 18.
“Otavio is part of 25 available elements, unfortunately not one, and that is Pepe, because he sprained his knee with some seriousness on Thursday, and he will not be in this or the next games,” said the coach. stating the stoppage time to which the 39-year-old center will be subjected and whether he could endanger the World Cup in any way.
These injuries can be of varying severity. If it’s grade 1, it’s just a strain, usually caused by a sprain. Because it does not affect the structural part of the ligament, recovery takes about four weeks. But there are cases (grades 2 and 3) where recovery takes longer, ranging from four to 12 weeks, depending on whether the ligament is torn. In other words, Pepe has at least a month’s break ahead of him.
Pepe, one of Fernando Santos’ untouchables (the duo at the center of the defense is him and Rúben Dias), despite being called up for the double day of the League of Nations (Czech Republic and Spain) in September, returned sacked for physical problems.
Apparently Porto’s center will recover from the injury in time to be an option during the World Cup. But the list of elected officials may not be released yet, and it will be at least a month without competing. Therefore, there are currently many doubts surrounding your call. If he is left out, a vacancy arises in the defense axis (although Danilo can fill the position) and the young António Silva, from Benfica, is looking for an opportunity.
Source: DN
