According to the official report of his club Fenerbahce Istanbul, the captain of the Slovak national football team, Milan Škriniar, suffered a partial tear in the groin area.
The 31-year-old stopper was injured in Thursday’s opening match of the Europa League round of 16 play-off against Nottingham Forest.
According to his employer, Škriniar has started treatment, but Fenerbahce has not disclosed the estimated date of his return.
Škriniar had to leave the pitch in the 26th minute due to groin problems and is in danger of missing Slovakia in the March play-off for participation in the World Cup 2026. According to television footage, he did not make any unusual movements.
However, after passing the ball forward, he grabbed his groin area, sat down on the grass, and Turkish stopper Caglar Söyüncü jumped into the game instead.
Even after the meeting, the cameras caught Škriniar walking away on his own legs with a slight limp. “It looks serious, we’ll see tomorrow. It’s a big problem for us,” Fenerbahce coach Domenico Tedesco told the post-match press conference about Skriniar’s injury.
The club has already released the results of the MRI: “Our captain Milan Škriniar underwent an MRI at Atasehir Hospital. This revealed a partial tear in the right groin area, while our player has started treatment.”
VIDEO: Milan Škriniar was injured in the match with Nottingham
Sercan Hamzaoglu, a Turkish journalist specializing in events around Fenerbahce Istanbul, was more specific shortly after the match.
“The club’s doctors have carried out an initial examination of Milan Škriniar’s injury. The coach and the club management have informed that the recovery period may take up to four weeks,” X wrote on the social network.
VIDEO: Škriniar’s departure from the stadium
In less than a month (March 26), Slovakia is waiting for the home duel of the semi-final playoff for the promotion to the world championship against Kosovo.
If coach Francesco Calzona’s team defeats the Balkan team, they will also fight for a place in the final tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico at home against the better of the pair, Turkey – Romania.
Fenerbahce’s progress among the top 16 EL teams has moved significantly away. The participant of the English Premier League won clearly 3:0 on the hot ground in the Turkish capital.
“Nottingham were really strong today. It was difficult to play our game because we didn’t have time to play the ball. They put a lot of pressure on us in the first half hour and we couldn’t find a way out of it,” said the 40-year-old Italian coach Tedesco.
On the opposite side, his counterpart Vitor Pereira rejoiced. The fifty-seven-year-old Portuguese made an extremely successful debut on the bench, where he replaced the dismissed Sean Dyche last week.
According to uefa.com, Pereira answered the question after the meeting about what impressed him the most in his first match. “Definitely the quality of the players,” replied Pereira, who also coached Fenerbahce twice in the past. “I asked the players to perform on the field, but not to forget the organization of the game.
They did it and we had a chance to score two more goals. It was a very good result, a consistent duel and a well-deserved victory,” added Pereira.
