Italy: after only three games played, Samuel Umtiti leaves on injury with Lecce
The jinx pursues Samuel Umtiti. The tricolor defender, world champion with the Blues in 2018, was injured again this Friday with his Lecce club which was playing a Serie A match on the lawn of Udinese (1-1). A new blow for the former Lyonnais who has accumulated physical glitches since the victorious World Cup in Russia. Over the last four seasons, he has only played 50 games in all competitions for only 37 starts.
Friday evening, on a totally innocuous action, and while Lecce was leading 1-0, the Frenchman lay down on the lawn, visibly hit in the back. The healers then intervened and even brought the stretcher to evacuate the player who then managed to leave the lawn on his two legs. For the time being, the Puglia club has not communicated on the length of unavailability of its defender. “Umtiti’s injury? We will have to wait until tomorrow to find out more,” said Lecce coach Marco Baroni.
Almost no chance of competing in the World Cup
Came to southern Italy last summer, from FC Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti hoped to revive a career stopped and weighed down by repeated injuries. Under the colors of the promoted in Serie A, he played only three games this season during which he had also shown himself to be rather successful. “Tonight, his performance was very convincing, he showed quality (…) he showed great defensive attention”, greeted his coach on Friday evening
A match that he however could not play to the end. Already tiny, Samuel Umtiti’s chances of being part of the trip to Qatar for the World Cup now seem zero.
