Real Sociedad have been handed a blow for their upcoming clash with Manchester United, with striker Carlos Fernández likely to miss the tie.
That’s according to Diario Vasco, who carry comments from the club regarding the striker picking up an injury ahead of the game.
Sociedad are set to take on United in the first leg of their Europa League last 32 clash this week, with the tie taking place in Turin after Manchester United were barred from entering Spain due to Coronavirus restrictions.
The Spanish side were heading into the tie in rude health, with star man Mikel Oyarzabal overcoming a recent injury scare to be fit for the game.
It means their injury list was a short one and hopes were high that the La Liga side, who currently sit fifth in the table, could pull off a shock result.
Those hopes have been dealt a major blow, though after Fernández, a January signing, pulled up in training on Monday.
That injury has now been confirmed as ‘a contracture in the biceps femoris of the right thigh’ although scans revealed there were no ‘structural lesions’.
While that is positive, experience with similar cases means the chance of the Real Sociedad player featuring against Manchester United on Thursday is ‘is up in the air.’
At this moment in time, he is not entirely ruled out of the game, but it is ‘complicated’ for him to make it nonetheless according to the newspaper.
They take a more positive slant than Radio Marca, who, while covering the injury, say the clash with United is ‘lost’ for the player. In other words, he won’t be making it in time.
That is something Sociedad will be hoping isn’t true, although having managed to recover Oyarzabal in record time, perhaps it’s best they don’t push their luck on Fernández.
