After tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee on August 10, 2023 and the internal meniscus on the right on March 19, Thibaut Courtois is now back, just in time to lift the League dressed as a short. The goalkeeper was included in the squad for the first leg of the semi-finals against Bayern and this Saturday he will start at home against Cádiz (4:15 p.m., Movistar) in the whites’ first opportunity to claim the title. They need to win and for Barcelona not to do so two hours later in Girona (6:30 p.m., DAZN). It would be a delayed alirón.
With one week left before turning 32, the Belgian returns from the biggest injury of his career (the cruciate), the most feared by footballers, which was joined by the problem in the meniscus of the other leg when he was already He was a few days away from seeing himself on a list again. A crash in a routine action in training, and another trip to the operating room, have delayed a return that was already taken for granted in mid-March for six weeks.
Carlo Ancelotti’s idea with him and with Éder Militão, who suffered the same cruciate fracture two days later, was to give them minutes from the duel with Athletic (March 31) or Mallorca (April 13), a plan that He could only comply with the central one. For now, the goalkeeper will play against the Cádiz team, but the Italian coach avoided commenting this Saturday on whether he would consider fielding him in a hypothetical Champions League final (June 1).
It does not seem that in the case of Courtois there was a connection between both mishaps, the cruciate and the meniscus. The goalkeeper already suffered an injury to the meniscus in his right knee in 2015, when he belonged to Chelsea. Then he opted for a suture, which kept him out for three months (the longest of his career until last summer), and now he has undergone removal of the damaged area, which has a shorter recovery period. The usual thing for a young athlete, like the Belgian on the English team was then, is to sew to try to preserve the menisci and ensure that they continue to fulfill their cushioning function in the knee and an adequate distribution of loads between the femur and the tibia. And, if they break again, then remove the affected part. What he has done recently.
Reading the game
“The probability that a sutured meniscus will tear again is around 20%, it is not low,” points out Dr. Diego García-Germán, medical director of the Spanish Winter Sports Federation and traumatologist at the HM Torrelodones University Hospital (Madrid). ). A risk that is due to the fact that, unlike a bone, “it is a tissue that does not offer very good healing,” as the doctor explains, because there will always be a scar in that area; which makes it “weaker and, furthermore, without a significant contribution of oxygen.” The implication of removing a meniscus, adds the surgeon, “is, above all, medium and long term.”
The unforeseen event was a psychological blow at the end of a very long rehabilitation process, with the added scare that at first it was even feared that it was a cruciate tear in the other knee. Now, with the setback over the expected deadlines, attention will focus on the anterior cruciate ligament in the left knee. In his case, due to the position he occupies, jumping is one of the most sensitive actions. “Goalkeepers jump a lot, with pivoting and rotation. These are risky situations, like in volleyball, for example. They should pay attention to falls, although many times they cannot be controlled,” says Dr. Diego García-Germán.
“Both (Courtois and Militão),” Ancelotti noted this Friday, “have recovered very well physically (from the Crusaders). What they lack is the reading of field situations.” A football tune-up that, in some cases, lasts several months until the benefits prior to the injury are recovered.
The uniqueness of a goalkeeper
The Belgian’s case also poses a singularity due to his status as a goalkeeper. If a field player, like Militão (also a starter with Cádiz), can be introduced little by little, and his sensations and responses in specific game actions can be evaluated, the nature of the goalkeeper position, whose possible errors are worse consequences, limits that path and pushes the technician to give him, sooner or later, a title and check his level with live fire. In any case, Madrid’s comfortable horizon in the League, no matter what happens this Saturday, offers Ancelotti a platform to give Courtois a clue. Afterwards, the goalkeeper is not scheduled to play in the Euro Cup, an absence, according to him, to refine the set-up.
With the Belgian, Madrid recovers the first to fall, the goalkeeper who captured the 14th European Cup from room 314 of his hotel in Paris, a number that was a sign for him on his brightest night. The hole opened by his serious injury in August was the first stress test that the white team faced in a season with so much physical misfortune. To everyone’s surprise, the one who covered it best was Lunin.
After an almost complete course in the infirmary, it remains to be seen how far Ancelotti’s bet on him would go if Madrid reaches the Champions League final. For now, the second leg of the semifinals will be played by Lunin. Courtois returns against Cádiz on an afternoon that could end Madrid’s alirón. The players, pointed out by the club (complaining about not having unified the schedules), will be able to stay at the Bernabéu to follow Girona-Barcelona or go home.
You can follow The USA Print in Facebook and xor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
_
