Very hard blow on the waterline of Real Sociedad. Mikel Oyarzabal broke down in training this morning in Zubieta and will not be able to play again for the rest of the season. He loses his reference player this season, the flagship of the current project led by Imanol Alguacil and Roberto Olabe. The player from Eibar suffers a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that will force him to be out between seven and nine months, depending on the estimated time for this type of serious knee injury. This means that not only does he miss the remaining ten games of the current national league championship, but also jeopardizes his presence in the next World Cup in Qatar. with the Spanish National Team, because you have to remember that Oyarzabal is a fixture in coach Luis Enrique’s calls.
The Royal Society has reported this terrible news in the middle of the afternoon, shortly before 6:00 p.m., sending a brief document with the medical part to the media in which it explained in a few lines what the situation of Mikel Oyarzabal was. “He suffered a torsion in his left knee in training this morning. In the imaging tests performed, a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament can be seen. He will undergo surgery in the coming weeks ”, could be read in the medical report issued by the doctors of the San Sebastian club. The truth is that more alarms have gone off in the early afternoon when some fan has seen Oyarzabal leave the Gipuzkoa Polyclinic, where complementary medical tests have been carried out to confirm the seriousness of the injury, leaning on crutches, unable to support his left foot, with a very serious and sorrowful expression; and accompanied by the Real Madrid first team doctor, Javier Barreda.
Oyarzabal was injured in the morning session held behind closed doors in Zubieta. In an exercise with the ball, the player from Eibar fell to the ground and his knee went to the other side, in an ugly gesture and instantly causing severe pain. Oyarzabal has remained lying on the grass with obvious gestures of pain, while he was treated by the club’s physiotherapists and doctors. Logically, the player from Eibar left the session helping with medical assistance from Real. In the locker room they carried out a first exploration with which they determined that he suffered from torsion, but they also noticed that something was wrong, so they determined that more medical tests had to be done. The Real doctors feared the worst, and already in the first medical tests it was appreciated that she could have the cruciate ligament of her left knee affected. Being a closed-door session, it has been decided to maintain a prudent silence about the incident until a definitive diagnosis is made. Oyarzabal has been transferred to the Gipuzkoa Polyclinic, where the worst of his predictions has already been confirmed late: he has a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
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The approximate time of this type of injury fluctuates between seven and nine months, depending on the player and what the doctors find when they open his knee and see what they find. At the moment, the Real has already reported that it will be operated on in the coming weeks. They have not said where he will undergo surgery, but in Vitoria is the maximum specialist of our time in this type of serious knee injuries, Mikel Sánchez, with whom the Real has already worked on other occasions. Once he is operated, it will be possible to limit something more if the recovery time, which in any case will be very long. Oyarzabal inevitably misses the rest of this season, and will not be able to be in the first months of the next one either. In the best of cases, Oyarzabal could be recovered between the months of September and October, with which he could arrive just ahead of the World Cup in Qatar. The deadline is very fair, but it should not be ruled out.
This same season, the Real already suffered the loss of another player due to a similar injury, that of Carlos Fernández in the preseason. The Sevillian broke on August 1 and on February 11 he began to train with the group gradually, but we are in mid-March and his return to the squad and the competition matches is still not clear, because he trains with normally but with caution, controlling their workloads. He is not yet ready to be summoned again. It is an example of the approximate time that Oyarzabal will have to be out, although each case is different. It is the first serious injury suffered by Oyarzabal, and although he has had some fiber breakage, he has always recovered relatively quickly. He has not had to be out for much more than a month due to an injury that he has suffered previously. The Eibarres was completing his best season since he was in the elite at the level of numbers, because he had 15 goals (9 in the league), and he was the most outstanding attacker of Real, even having missed a game due to a muscular setback, nothing as serious as this injury. He had recently matched the mythical Jesús Mari Zamora in the section of top scorers in the history of Real. This is a great loss for Imanol Alguacil’s team, because Oyarzabal is his franchise player, the footballer who supports the entire project, an example of what he should and could become a youth player. Second captain of the first royalist squad, he is the current emblem of Real. If it goes down, it is a very hard blow for the San Sebastian club, not only from a sporting point of view, but also emotionally, for what it represents Oyarzabal, who will always remain in history as the author of the penalty goal that gave him his third Copa del Rey in the unforgettable final of La Cartuja against Athletic.
Oyarzabal’s first reaction
Mikel Oyarzabal has already left his first reaction as soon as he learned of this harsh news, in a message posted on his Instagram account. “The moment that no footballer wants has arrived. It is very difficult to assimilate, but from now on I have only one objective: I will be back stronger!. Mila esker zuen mezuengatik (thank you very much ole your messages). Aurrera”, the Eibar player has written. The environment of the Royal Society is saddened and very touched. Obviously, with this loss the fight for European positions is much more complicated for Real Sociedad.