Jose Mourinho faces a selection crisis ahead of Roma’s upcoming match with Sassuolo on Sunday evening after Lorenzo Pellegrini, Andrea Belotti and Diego Llorente all suffered injuries during the Europa League game against Real Sociedad.
The biggest scare was the head injury sustained by Pellegrini, who was taken off after an hour of play on Thursday evening with blood pouring from a deep cut after a collision with Igor Zubeldia.
As reported in la Gazzetta dello sport, the Giallorossi captain required 30 stitches to seal the wound and was kept in overnight at the Villa Stuart clinic in Rome to monitor his condition.
Pellegrini was subject to a CT scan, the results of which came back negative, and has since been discharged and will recover at home.
He will definitely miss out on Sunday evening’s Serie A fixture and will be assessed ahead of a potential return for the second leg against Real Sociedad.
It has been confirmed that Belotti suffered a fracture to the fourth metacarpal in his hand after a coming together in the Europa League game midweek.
Following extensive checks on Friday morning, the Azzurri centre-forward will undergo surgery in the coming days to reset the bone.
Belotti will also not be involved against Sassuolo, but the full timescale of his recovery process has not yet been identified.
Only one and a half games into his Roma career, Diego Llorente, on loan from Leeds, was struggling with a problem in his left abductor and was subsequently taken off during the break against Real Sociedad.
Llorente is also now a doubt for Sassuolo.
To make matters worse for Mourinho, he might have to do without Ola Solbakkan.
The Norwegian is reportedly still struggling with a muscular problem sustained in training last week, which kept him out of the Round of 16 first leg altogether.
Bryan Cristante will serve his one-match suspension for accumulating one too many yellow cards on Sunday, meaning that Mourinho could potentially be without five first-team players by the time Sassuolo visit the Stadio Olimpico.