Oscar’s return to training marked by contradictions, no lies involved | OneFootball

The absence of Oscar from the squad list for São Paulo’s defeat to LDU on Thursday (25th) caused surprise and sparked an unexpected controversy.

The midfielder had been showing satisfactory signs of progress in his recovery from fractures in three lumbar vertebrae.

On Monday (22nd), the club itself announced that he had participated in all ball work with his teammates, in addition to supplementing the activity with physical exercises.

The statement ended by emphasizing that the number 8 had already been working “without restrictions since last Friday.”

On Tuesday (23rd), Oscar was not mentioned in the official website’s text, but he did appear in a photo and a video from training.

Then, the next day, Wednesday (24th), he disappeared completely: in addition to not being mentioned, he did not appear in any official images, even though journalist André Hernan reported that the player had trained “without restrictions.”

This was the scenario in which the groundwork for confusion was laid, because the expectation was to see him included in the squad list for the match again.

Questioned after the game, coach Hernán Crespo gave an account that differed from what the club itself had communicated.

“Oscar didn’t train. I don’t know what was communicated to you, but since he suffered this injury, Oscar hasn’t had the possibility to play up to today,” he said.

This statement was enough to raise doubts about the player’s real situation. In practice, Oscar had already been ruled out of the match in advance. That’s why he didn’t participate in collective and tactical training sessions, which are the ‘training’ sessions referred to by the coach.

He continued doing other activities, on a reduced field, with no movement restrictions, as well as technical ball exercises mentioned in the club’s reports, and was no longer acting as a wildcard (who trains without physical contact), starting to work with risk of contact and without movement limitations, but only in these other drills, not in the tactical ones, which he did not join.

The prospect of his return is still not very encouraging. Crespo stated that only “a miracle” would allow Oscar to return before the October FIFA break, which would mean at least another three weeks before his comeback.

Lucas Moura was asked about the case and tried to downplay the difference between the recovery processes.

“Although Oscar has been training longer than I have, the injuries are different. Oscar spoke with the coaching staff and the medical department, and they decided it was better not to include him in this game,” he said.

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