Watford defender Francisco Sierralta is likely to miss their ‘next few games’ after suffering a tear during Chile’s clash with Ecuador.
Yesterday we covered a report from Red Gol that detailed how the Watford man had been forced to play the final ten minutes or so of the game with a tear picked up in the 81st minute.
Despite falling to the ground in pain and making it clear he couldn’t carry on, his international side refused to remove him from the game.
That’s because they had already used their three substitutes and had a man sent off, meaning Sierralta’s departure would have left them with nine men in a game they were desperately chasing an equaliser in.
Instead, they instructed him to play upfront for the remainder of the game, something that earned plenty of criticism as it was ‘putting his health at risk’.
Red Gol reported that the defender was flying back to England for scans, with the extent of the injury yet to be seen.
However, TNT Sports report today that he will ‘surely’ miss Watford ‘next few games’ with the injury. That’s bad news for Claudio Ranieri and co, who have Manchester United, Leicester and Chelsea in their next three games alone.
They’ll likely be less than impressed with Chile’s handling of the matter or with Sierralta, who may have caused himself more harm by buckling to pressure and playing on.
While it’s earned him plenty of praise in his homeland and comparisons to Gary Medel’s efforts at the World Cup in 2014, the interpretation at Vicarage Road is likely to be far less kind.
