Martim Fernandes backed at FC Porto, racing to be fit for Nottingham | OneFootball

It is not as worrying as FC Porto’s officials had feared, but Martim Fernandes will have to stop for a few days and is certain to miss the trip to Estoril, while also running a serious risk of not recovering in time for the European decider in Nottingham.

The full-back was injured still in the first half of Thursday’s match – in a bizarre incident in which he ended up being hit by an opponent (Ndoye), after the latter had been fouled by Gabri Veiga – and left the pitch in a lot of pain, being replaced by Alberto Costa.

The defender’s miserable night, who a few minutes earlier had scored one of the strangest own goals in the history of the Estádio do Dragão, ended up being a major scare. The MRI scan carried out confirmed “only” a moderate sprain in his right ankle, ruling out the scenario of ligament damage that Francesco Farioli had feared.

“He will undergo tests and we will know more, it seems to be something with the ligaments. We have to see. He will definitely be out for Sunday’s match. Let’s see if we can recover him for next Thursday’s game,” said the Porto coach, speaking to TNT Sports.

Although it did not significantly affect the ligaments, the injury is still likely to keep Martim Fernandes out of the match in England, although a recovery has not yet been ruled out. That is what the full-back will be focused on in the coming days.

Martim’s unavailability for the match against Estoril and, most likely, also for the clash in Nottingham, creates an additional problem for Francesco Farioli at a stage of the season when managing the squad’s physical condition has been a concern. On the right side of defense, Alberto Costa remains, although there are other options that have already been tested, such as Pablo Rosario and Pepê.

The issue is that moving one of those players would force him to cover possible gaps further forward. In Amoreira, the most likely scenario is for Alberto to play, but in England the coach may be forced to improvise if he does not want to risk overloading the former Juventus player.

Martim’s injury, however, could also spread the problem to the left side, an area where he has often been used as a solution. Zaidu has been the regular choice since the clássico against Benfica on March 8, the last match in which Moura featured. To manage the Nigerian’s physical condition, Farioli only has two options: “recover” the Portuguese full-back, who is going through a difficult spell, or move Kiwior back.

“Support” for the full-back from the pitch to Olival

Going back to Martim, Thursday night could hardly have gone worse. In the 13th minute, to make matters worse, he scored an own goal, allowing Nottingham to equalize, and six minutes later he suffered the injury already mentioned. Still on the pitch, several teammates, such as Fofana and Bednarek, tried to encourage the defender after the mistake.

At the end of the match, Portal dos Dragões has learned, the scene was repeated in the dressing room, with the “Porto family” supporting their teammate and trying to help him quickly forget the moment. The same happened again yesterday morning at Olival, where Martim began treatment for the injury.

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