Federico Chiesa’s season is over after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and this is a defining moment in his career.
The 24-year-old Italian winger went down in the first half of Juventus’ thrilling 4-3 comeback win over Roma on Sunday and he painfully limped off the pitch a few minutes later, hoping to avoid bad news. Unfortunately for both himself and the Bianconeri fans, the tests revealed the ACL tear, which rules him out from the rest of this season.
An ACL tear can be an incredibly destructive injury for a player. Arsenal full back Héctor Bellerín, a player who was known for his incredible pace, never fully recovered after rupturing his cruciate ligament back in January 2019, with his iconic speed now just a memory.
Former Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero also famously tore his ACL back in 1998, and the player that returned the following summer hardly resembled the one that fell to the pitch on that cold November afternoon in Udine. Gone was his explosive pace and ability to easily skip past players, but he adapted his game and returned to becoming a strong player, although he never hit those heights of his pre-injury period again.
The Juventus winger could also continue following in the footsteps of Roberto Baggio; both players rose to prominence with Fiorentina before making the move to Turin, and both suffered ACL tears in their career. Baggio recovered and remained a top player, giving Chiesa some hope ahead of a long recovery.
With Chiesa’s season now over, the next 12 months will be incredibly crucial in his career. Not only will he have to carefully managed his recovery over a long period of time, but he’ll also have to survive the psychological impact of such an injury; players who have suffered an ACL tear have noted the difficulty in remaining positive during recovery and not feeling the fear of a repeat injury following their return.
The Italian winger will also have to avoid the temptation of rushing his recovery in order to be fit for this year’s World Cup in Qatar, provided that the Azzurri qualify through the play-offs first. With the tournament set to kick off in the final weeks of November, Chiesa will have to prioritise his recovery above being available for the Azzurri squad, as rushing back could have disastrous career consequences.
Last year Chiesa truly became a household name, but this year will be one of the most decisive of his career.
I’m really sad because of all this. He might be playing for a rival club but he was the shining star of the Azzurri. To think our two most recent generational talents in Zaniolo and Chiesa both ruptured their ACLs while still so young is heartbreaking. This is a potential career ending injury. Zaniolo is young but has never found his former swagger, and I doubt he can realize his full potential now after two ACL tears.
Italy are in trouble, both short term and in the long run. These two guys were supposed to be pillars of the Azzurri for years to come, they went through the process, did hard work to climb the ladders and now they have to stop. There’s only so much talent a country can churn out in each decade.
Starting to think Italians have the weakest knee ligaments, how does this keep happening?
I don’t agree, AS Roma fan I feel that Nico still has his swagger, but no levelheadedness yet. That’s because he’s young.
He is still explosiveness which should be a good sign for Chiesa. Also Rick Karsdorp for Roma had the same injury and still has his speed.
@martin
Still got outrun by Theo over and over last game.. and sent off.
A shame about Chiesa tho as he was a raw talent. Wish him a successful recovery
Worried as speed is a big factor in his game. Lucky he has the a good inner cycle with his father to lead him back
I can see him change his game. I wrote as much on the other article about him. If anything just for survival.
Such a site it was to see him go for a run and take on defenders. Fearless. There will always be that thought in his mind whether he wants to do it, pull out of a 50/50 ball as it’s happening.
Not concerned about the World Cup timeline.
They say 6 months after surgery, which is this week. So we are into mid June. Then rehab starts. Maybe 3 months of that. Won’t play preseason matches, obviously. Even if he misses the first 6 weeks of the season for absolute certainty we are still at the beginning of October. He can easily get 10 matches in before Qatar.
Zaniolo tore the 2nd time in November of 2020, iirc. He played his first full 90 Minutes in August in a Preseason match. 10 Month full procesa is more than enough.
Also, keep in mind. And I know this from the past, not having a proper Training Camp (rehabbing at the ground but not with the team, travelling with them) is a setback as well.
You alwaya feel behind, always trying to play catchup with everybody else. Even if nobody ia rushing you.
Tearing it now with a WC in November/December means he is there, if we qualify. Had this WC been in June/July, he wouldn’t be there. I’m looking at it like this.
Gli Azzurri just need to qualify and we hit the reset button. New camp before the tournament, he will be OK where that is concerned.
Remember Insigne Totti Baggio Sane they all came back stronger
Lousy English Roma hack thinks he can play this game. Send him back to Arsenal.
His dad started his third season in Firenze in incredible fashion, scoring 5 in 5 games, and post 20 plus goals the previous season. He also suffered a horrific injury whilst basically in his prime. Chiesa at least has age on his side thankfully.
There could be small relation between Italians and acl.
Every nation does psych development slightly differently.
Terrible for him for sure. Juve is one team i do not like much, but its really not fair for them. Forced now to buy out a player that may not recover..
It is really interesting reading so many self professed genetics experts in this comment section.
With Chiesa Italy would have definitely qualified for Qatar & beaten Argentina in the “Finalissima” this summer, but this complicates it : ( hopefully he’ll be back on track for the World Cup. Darn that idiot Smalling who looks like Jar Jar Binks smh