Giménez's martyrdom with injuries: "His game mechanics leads him to go almost to the limit in every action"

• Liga Atlético puts a lock on its defense: Savic renewed, Giménez renewed

Next Tuesday, José María Giménez (1995) could miss his 50th game with Atlético in the last three years. After 12.30 pm this Friday, the defender left Cerro del Espino at the wheel of his car, wearing the team's training clothes. As already happened on Thursday, he had jumped onto the grass and even touched the ball. He did, yes, outside the group. His wish is to play against Liverpool and be in front of that wall against the guys from

. But at the club they know from experience that with Giménez it is better to be cautious. It has suffered 16 physical mishaps since 2018 and any acceleration can lead to a more serious problem. A week ago, during the clash between Uruguay and Colombia, he sat on the ground. The pain was familiar. He knew something was wrong with the abductors, as the medical report would confirm: "Injury to the abductor region of the right leg."

Since he landed in Madrid in 2013, with the face and body of a boy, then 18 years old, he could add 80 absences due to injury, if he is not ready against Liverpool. The tough history of a bet for the red and white defense, which has taken root, despite its intermittence due to constant setbacks. Only he and

can boast of having won two Leagues with Atlético in the 21st century. Therefore, Giménez, always well regarded in Europe, and by whom the

of

even offered about 90 million a year ago, renewed in August 2025, with a clause of 120

.

But is there an explanation for so many injuries?

«Giménez has a lot of muscular quality.

However, his game mechanics lead him to push himself to the maximum in each action and go almost to the limit, always full of power ", is the X-ray for this newspaper of someone who lived with the Uruguayan defender.

«The most muscularly powerful footballers are the ones who are more prone to injury.

When you approach peak performance, you also approach injury, "he continues.

In his day, because of his running style,

baptized him as a

.

"After the Covid, more injuries"

From his first mishap in 2014, with a calf injury that prevented him from being called up (then he was always a substitute) for five games, to this setback in the abductors that forced him to return to Madrid and leave the Uruguay concentration, with two key games ahead of Argentina and Brazil ahead. “When you suffer a first injury, you have a better chance of injuring yourself again. Not only from that area, but from very different ones. Human beings tend to protect themselves and create overloads in other structures, "he adds.

There are already 20 muscle injuries suffered by Josema, who had started his ninth season as a confident rojiblanco.

Erasing from his head all those trips that fate has been putting him with all kinds of physical unforeseen events.

Up to 30 times he has been forced to stop his march.

One of them, a little over a year ago, because of the coronavirus.

Another factor that has had a negative impact on the muscle health of many athletes.

"After the Covid, injuries have increased in football," says a top-level physical trainer.

Giménez hadn't been injured for seven months.

Outcome in Pucela

A footballer established as Atlético's third captain, now ahead of

and, since 2019, behind

and

. «This was the year that I suffered the most. An atypical year, with a few days of preparation, the Covid catches me, 20 days stopped. It cost me back, it was as if I had not trained, the Covid had consumed me, I was physically destroyed, "admitted the Uruguayan defender in May, between the walls of the Metropolitan, during the celebration of the League title. Savic's suspension on Pucela's glorious afternoon pushed him to the starting position, even though his physical condition was not the best. Hence, he watched from the bench three of the last four episodes, on his way to the league title. This course has played almost the entire eight of the 10 games.

Since last Monday, when he landed in Madrid after crossing the Atlantic, Giménez has started one more journey, face to face with his own body. With the muscles of his legs, specifically. A challenge that also directly affects Atlético, which could have to reinvent itself to face that (almost) perfect storm that Klopp has designed for his Liverpool. With Savic two games away from serving the four suspension that he drags in Europe, Kondogbia could be the third center-back alongside Felipe and Hermoso. Or, he could return to the defense of four.

The Uruguayan lived from the bench the previous one, on the Metropolitan, two seasons ago, and appeared at Anfield just when Llorente pointed to the

, in the second part of extra time.

On Tuesday, nobody wants to risk.

Surely, no one but him wants this unforeseen event to be left only in a flush.

That is why he does not stop crossing his fingers.

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