Piqué: red light for Valladolid and amber for El Clásico

Heads and tails for Ronald Koeman, who will recover Sergi Roberto for the game against Valladolid, but who still has doubts about the return of Piqué to the playing fields. While that of Reus plans to be discharged this Monday, enter the call and even play a few minutes, the Catalan center-back is totally ruled out for the match against the pucelanos And to this day no one in the club dares to set a date for his return, despite the fact that the player has directed his entire recovery to reappear next Saturday, April 10, coinciding with the Classic in Valdebebas.

Piqué, who is working against the clock, could end up missing the game against Real Madrid. And it is that, as AS has learned, his recovery has suffered more than one delay and setback in recent days, a situation that is sowing many doubts in the club about their “real” options to play the Classical. So much so that he is not scheduled to participate in the session with the group today. In fact, he hasn't even been able to complete a full training session with the team yet.

And that for a few weeks, Piqué has been putting all five senses to return against Real Madrid and help the team in the final stretch of the season. Nevertheless, his return is getting complicated because a knee, with the crusader affected, is always very treacherous. The medical services know that better than anyone, who are very cautious and with the handbrake on. In fact, it's been a month since he relapsed and Nobody in the club dares to guarantee their presence next Saturday in Valdebebas. That he will try is certain, but the sensations that the knee transmits in recent days are not the best nor do they allow an excess of optimism.

It is clear that Piqué's situation is much more complicated than that of Sergi Roberto, despite the fact that both have followed almost parallel paths this season: they were injured in the same game, against Atlético at Wanda (1-0) and suffered paths relapses in February. But in the case of the central one there is the aggravating factor that in addition to the injury to the internal lateral ligament, we must add the involvement of the anterior cruciate ligament, which makes recovery difficult. Piqué chose not to have surgery, ignoring the advice of the majority of specialists who urged him to undergo surgery, returning in a record time of just over two and a half months, coinciding with the first leg of the Champions League against PSG at the Camp Nou (1-4). The knee lasted four more games, until in the second leg of the Cup semifinals against Sevilla (3-0 said enough. Not before, letting Piqué achieve the goal that led the team to extra time “in extremis”.

For its part, Sergi Roberto is about to exit the tunnel: He has been inactive for almost four months after injuring himself at the end of November and relapsing in February, two games after his comeback. A muscle tear in the quadriceps of the right knee, which was coupled with a positive for coronavirus and a subsequent relapse, greatly complicated his season, in which he currently barely has 12 games and 889 minutes.