Montiel suffers muscle tear: out of Argentina squad, concern at River | OneFootball

The defender finished the match against Estudiantes de Río Cuarto with discomfort and was ruled out of the games against Mauritania and Zambia. At River, they hope to have him back for the Superclásico.

Tests confirmed that Gonzalo Montiel suffered a muscle tear near the end of the match between River and Estudiantes de Río Cuarto, which will keep him out of Argentina’s final friendlies before the World Cup.

The River defender, who had scored the opening goal from the penalty spot in the 2-0 win in Río Cuarto, had to be taken off on a stretcher and was clearly in pain as the match was coming to an end.

This Monday, the Qatar 2022 world champion underwent tests, which determined that he suffered a grade 1 muscle injury to his left hamstring.

As a result, Montiel will miss the two friendlies Argentina will play against Mauritania and Zambia on March 27 and 31, both at La Bombonera.

It remains to be seen whether Lionel Scaloni will decide to replace him with another player, since the only right-back left in the squad is Nahuel Molina, who scored a stunning goal for Atlético over the weekend in the derby loss to Real Madrid.

Scaloni had already had to call up another River player today, Lucas Martínez Quarta, because Leonardo Balerdi was also ruled out with discomfort.

Gonzalo Montiel ruled out of the Argentina national team

Another win for European Coudet

Beyond the Argentina national team, Montiel’s injury is also a concern for River, as Eduardo Coudet’s side has an important run of matches coming up, although there is the good news that there will be no Liga Profesional action this weekend because of the FIFA international break.

In a couple of weeks, River will host Belgrano, and then two clásicos will come one after the other: first they will travel to Avellaneda to face Racing and then host Boca in the Superclásico.

River reported that Montiel’s injury is grade 1, like the one Juanfer Quintero recently had, which allowed the Colombian to return after a couple of weeks. At River, they are currently hoping that Cachete will be available against Boca, although it remains to be seen whether he might even return sooner.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.