London (AFP)
After Germany, football is about to restart in Spain, Italy and England. But given the fast pace of the matches, which will be linked to end the season on time, the question of injuries is causing concern.
After three months of interruption, La Liga, Serie A and the Premier League had only a handful of weeks of collective training with contact to get back in shape before a long tunnel of about ten matches in just over six weeks.
"We expect more injuries at that time," said Paul Catterson, the Newcastle doctor, on Tuesday.
"The players ran on treadmills and did indoor exercises for eight weeks, so this transition (to competition) is a different challenge for organizations," he added.
This shock was all the greater since the training conditions were severely hampered by the measures to combat the Covid-19 epidemic.
"Players have asked for ice baths after training (for recovery, note) and at the moment they cannot have them," said Dr. Catterson.
French Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud also regretted having "only 15 minutes of treatment at the end of training". "If I could have more care and treatment to take care of my body, it would be better," he said.
This fear of injury is shared elsewhere in Europe.
"This risk has increased, not only because of the time we have spent without playing, but also because of this bizarre period we have been through," said Colombian central defender Espanyol Barcelona, Bernardo, in late May. Espinosa.
- Heavy tribute -
And the first physical glitches have already been identified. Atlético Madrid have three players on their side, including their Portuguese diamond Joao Felix, who arrived last summer from Benfica for the record sum of EUR 126 million and touched in the left knee.
In Spain as in Italy, we also fear the effects of summer heat on organisms.
Serie A, which will replay from June 20 to August 2, when temperatures are highest in the Peninsula, has scheduled most of the evening matches. Only a handful of matches will be played at 5.30 p.m., almost all in the north of the country.
But here too, the tribute has already been heavy, with at least 12 muscle or joint injuries recorded since the recovery. After Zlatan Ibrahimovic, touched in the calf and still unavailable until at least mid-June, these last hours are Gonzalo Higuain at Juve, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic at Lazio and Papu Gomez at Atalanta who joined the Infirmary.
An observation which has led some, like Pierpaolo Marino, the sports director of Udinese, to speak of this forced recovery as "Russian roulette".
- Assessment in the fall -
However, the only major championship to have already resumed, the Bundesliga, draws a measured balance.
"The number of injuries, particularly to injuries, has not increased since the recovery," said Thursday, after four full days, Kicker, the benchmark magazine for German football.
The establishment of five replacements per match and per team, instead of three in "normal" time, quickly adopted by German technicians, seems to have cushioned the shock, we agree.
On the last day, 13 out of 18 teams used their five substitutes.
"The five changes are a great decision. If there were six, I would even agree," said Augsburg coach Heiko Herrlich.
In the longer term, however, there will also be the question of the sequence with the following season, after an inevitably reduced truce.
In France, where Ligue 1 has decided to cancel the end of the season - a decision still contested before the Council of State - we keep a wary eye.
"We have to wait a little longer to see if it is a good decision or not (...) Physically, in the fall, for the players who picked up so quickly, playing such frequent matches, I'm not certain that this is the best solution, "Rennes' new president Nicolas Holveck told RTL.
pve-stt-cpb-hap / jed / dlo
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