Manchester United will have a slight cause for concern as their star player Angel Di Maria was forced to leave the pitch during Argentina’s friendly match against Portugal last night. The injury took place in the 18th minute when Man United loanee Nani stepped on the Argentinian’s right foot.
Afterwards, Di Maria revealed, “It was just a blow. I hope it doesn’t swell anymore so I can play at the weekend.”
Argentina manager Gerardo Martino reassured the fans that although the injury looked painful, it wasn’t serious, “We don’t think it’s anything serious. It was quite a tough blow he took. It was a tough knock. It cut the skin a bit.
“But we have had a look and are evaluating the situation. We are looking at some x-rays, some images we took, but in spite of that we do not think it’s too serious.”
Di Maria was replaced after an hour in the game as he wasn’t at his best and due to the injury as well. Manchester United’s next game is against Arsenal and with 10 players on the injury table already, Louis Van Gaal will hope that his £59.7m summer signing will be fit to face the Gunners.
United have struggled to find any sort of consistency this season and the injuries is part of the reason why Van Gaal has never had the chance to play his strongest line-up as frequent injuries have disrupted the availability of the full squad.
Injuries continue to pile on
In other news, left back Luke Shaw was on England duty in their 3-1 win over Scotland. However, he did not last the entire 90 minutes as he came off in the 66th minute due to a tight hamstring. With the kind of pace the 19-year old has, it’s likely that he won’t be risked against Arsenal or he could aggravate his minor injury.
“I picked up a few knocks during the game and my left hamstring, which I hurt at the start of the season, I could feel a little bit,” he told Sky Sports.
“We had a discussion at half-time over whether to bring me off then but it was a game I didn’t want to come off in so I played the extra 15 minutes and then Roy decided to sub me off.”
If both Shaw and Di Maria misses the Arsenal game, it could leave Manchester United with 12 casualties currently nursing the treatment table.
To add to van Gaal’s misery the likes of Michael Carrick, De Gea and Blind suffered injuries while on International duties and are likely to miss the weekend clash.
Stay tuned for more updates