Fede Valverde has a grade three sprain in his ankle, Real Madrid confirmed in a statement on Tuesday.
Kang-In Lee’s foul on Valverde in the first half of the derby at the Wanda Metropolitano – a foul that should have been a direct red card – resulted in Valverde’s ankle being swollen for a couple of days.
After tests on Tuesday, it was concluded that the player’s suffering from a grade three strain, and reports from Spain claim that he will be out for at least two to three weeks.
If that is the case, Valverde will be back for the game against Barcelona in late October, which would be a relief because even in bad moments, the least Valverde provides is defensive support, and that will be needed against the high flying Catalans.
It is ridiculous that a tackle like that is not even deemed enough to be a yellow, let alone a direct red, which it should have been in the first place.
The referee, in that scenario, was laughing rather than actually understanding the magnitude of the foul that was committed.
This is exactly what Jose Mourinho meant with his naive comment
That is also exactly what Jose Mourinho meant when he called his players naive in a press conference earlier in the season. This injury would have still happened, but maybe the referee would have understood the gravity of it better if Valverde decided to stay down and roll around in pain.
It is not something that a player should do, because it is considered unethical, but if that is what he has to do for the referee to understand the kind of foul that the opponent committed, then that is what they have to do.
If he stays on the pitch and shows that he is in clear and obvious pain, the VAR might have intervened and asked the referee to rewatch the foul and see if it is worth changing the punishment to something more severe.
At the end of the day, these players are people, and if they are not going to be protected by the referee, whose job it is to protect them from injuries and keep the game fair, then they have to stoop down and do these things to protect themselves.
In any case, Valverde would be injured through the international break, meaning he would stay at Real Madrid and continue his recovery.
Hopefully, he does not miss too much game time for the club as it would be really important for him to be in top condition when Real Madrid play Barcelona next month.
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