MOT View: Massive blow for Leeds as no date given for Raphinha return
After not ruling him out conclusively in his press conference ahead of the game against Man United, Leeds United winger Raphinha appears to have taken a backwards step this week.
In Thursday’s press conference, Marcelo Bielsa ruled Raphinha out of the game against Brighton on Saturday and the future prognosis wasn’t great.
Bielsa went into more detail about his injury, saying, “Difficult to give a diagnostic of and difficult to give return date. A hit which created an internal hematoma that hematoma disappears causes pain and inhibits mobility.”
Leeds only have five games left this season, four after today’s clash that Raphinha has been ruled out of, and there’s now an outside chance that he won’t play much more of a part in the run-in.
Rewind to the Man City game and it’s no wonder that Leeds fans – and likely Marcelo Bielsa, too – are fuming.
Raphinha was taken out deliberately and violently by Fernandinho late on in the game. He was only given a yellow card.
So far, Raphinha has missed the same number of games that Liam Cooper was suspended for after a red card in the same game. Cooper’s tackle was deemed violent play even though it wasn’t deliberate.
Meanwhile, Fernandinho is playing for Man City and got away with the incident scot-free bar a meaningless yellow.
There’s something deeply wrong with this and we’re just glad that Leeds have already guaranteed their Premier League status.
Missing a key player like Raphinha would have a detrimental effect on any side and we just hope that he makes a quick recovery.
As for Fernandinho, we hope he’s suitably ashamed. Deliberately injuring an opponent is the lowest thing you can do on a pitch.
In other Leeds United news, Leeds talent earns first PL start – View: Predicted Whites XI v Brighton after major update.