After a night like Juventus had on Sunday when they were handed a heavy 3-0 defeat at the hands of Lazio, the last thing the Bianconeri needed to see happen was a little more salt to the wound added in the following hours of an already very unstable situation.
And then the morning after happened.
After injuring his shoulder (yet not coming off the field) during the second half of the loss to Lazio, Francisco Conceição took a trip to J Medical on Monday morning to get things evaluated. The result of those tests, as Juventus announced later in the day , resulted in the news that Conceição had actually separated his shoulder — an injury that had already been reduced after the game and ultimately is the thing that might not keep him out as long as it could have been.
Conceição will be out at least three weeks — which runs right into the November international break — and has begun conservative therapy immediately to fit into that timetable.
The shoulder injury was first reported in the early hours of Monday morning by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
The full update from Juventus' website is as follows:
Following the injury to his left shoulder sustained during the match against Lazio, Francisco Conceição underwent diagnostic tests this morning at J|medical.
The tests revealed a glenohumeral dislocation, which had already been reduced yesterday evening. The player will undergo conservative treatment and has already begun a rehabilitation programme aimed at a return to competitive action.
Conceição came on in the 67th minute as a substitute for Douglas Luiz in the aftermath of Lazio extending their lead to 2-0 in the 66th minute. As much as Juve hoped bringing on more attacking players would potentially turn the tide, it didn't go as they hoped, seeing Rino Gattuso's squad extend their lead even further in the dying minutes.
Now, Conceição is out until the next international break at the bare minimum. And what makes matters worse is that his backup, Edon Zhegrova, is not on the Europa League squad list for the league phase, so there's one less option to try and fill the void against Rennes on Thursday night and then AZ Alkmaar in a couple of weeks.
So here's to hoping that Nico González can rediscover that form he had from the first couple of weeks of the season when he was a huge surprise and unexpected contributor. Let us hope.
