Napoli star Khvicha Kvaratskhelia was substituted off with a worrying injury concern moments before half-time in Saturday’s Serie A match against Hellas Verona, Antonio Conte’s first league game in charge of the club.
Worrying injury for Kvaratskhelia
The incident occurred in first-half stoppage time. The Georgian had rushed through one-on-one with Lorenzo Montipo in the Verona net. Jackson Tchatchoua was able to catch him and put in a heroic last ditch tackle to put the ball behind for a corner.
Immediately afterwards, though, Verona defender Pawel Dawidowicz appeared to collide into the back of Kvaratskhelia. It looked completely inconspicuous at first, but Kvaratskhelia soon made his discomfort clear.
The 23-year-old was bending looking slightly dizzy, before hitting the deck, which led the officials to invite the Partenopei medical staff onto the pitch.
He was treated on-field initially for a few moments, before being escorted off the pitch and towards the tunnel. Giacomo Raspadori came on in his place.
Verona and Napoli went in for half-time with the scores still level at 0-0.
49’ – Cambio per noi:
↩️ Kvaratskhelia
↪️ Raspadori#VeronaNapoli 0-0— Official SSC Napoli (@sscnapoli) August 18, 2024