Pablo Durán Faces Two-Week Spell on the Sidelines After Knee Scare
Celta Vigo forward Pablo Durán escapes serious injury but will miss key La Liga and Europa League fixtures after picking up a knee ligament sprain.
Celta Vigo breathed a collective sigh of relief after initial fears over Pablo Durán’s injury proved worse than the actual diagnosis — but the young forward is still set for a frustrating fortnight on the treatment table.
What Happened?
Durán limped off during the first half of Sunday’s clash with Mallorca, and the sight of him in tears as he left the pitch had everyone fearing the worst. Thankfully, it’s not as grim as it looked in the moment. The striker has been diagnosed with a sprain to the medial collateral ligament in his left knee — painful and annoying, but not the season-ending nightmare Celta fans were dreading.
He’s expected to be sidelined for around two weeks.
Games He’ll Miss
Two weeks is still two weeks, mind, and the timing is a proper pain in the neck for Claudio Giráldez’s side. Durán will sit out:
- La Liga vs Girona — a game Celta will want to win to keep their top-half ambitions ticking along
- La Liga vs Real Madrid — not exactly the easiest fixture to be missing a forward for
- Europa League Round of 32 second leg vs PAOK — a crucial European tie that Celta will be desperate to progress in
Three big matches. Not ideal.
A Disrupted Season for Durán
This isn’t the first time Durán has had to deal with the physio room this season. He also missed time earlier in the campaign after picking up a shoulder injury at the Santiago Bernabéu — of all places. Still, despite those setbacks, the lad has held his own: 27 appearances, 5 goals, and 2 assists in 1,317 minutes of football. Solid numbers for a player who’s had to deal with more than his fair share of bad luck.
Recovery News Elsewhere
On the brighter side, Giráldez will be hoping for some reinforcements soon. There are two names to keep an eye on:
- Hugo Sotelo is expected to be given the all-clear by medical staff this week
- Álvaro Núñez is in the final stages of his recovery from a pubic injury and edging closer to a return
Getting those two back into the fold would give Celta a timely boost, especially with that PAOK second leg looming large on the horizon.
Bottom Line
Could’ve been a lot worse for Celta. Durán’s tears had the fanbase fearing a serious knee injury, but two weeks is manageable. The fixtures he misses are tough ones, no doubt about it, but at least there’s light at the end of the tunnel — and with Sotelo and Núñez potentially back soon, Giráldez has options to paper over the cracks.