Claudio Marchisio was initially reported to be out for 6 months following an injury while on international duty, but he could return by the weekend.

As Juventus enter the final stages of the season, we recap the injury problems facing the Bianconeri in the closing weeks of the 2014/15 campaign.

Claudio Marchisio

Initially reported as a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament by Azzurri doctors, the latest news in Italy suggests Marchisio will return to action far sooner than expected. Despite the national team’s doctors diagnosis, Juventus performed their own MRI scan in Turin on Friday and “excluded tears” to the ligament.

La Stampa and Sky suggested Marchisio would miss 15-20 days of the season, but Gazzetta Dello Sport report this morning that Principino could be back in training for the game against Empoli this weekend.

The midfielder credited his rapid recovery to all the well wishes he received from fans, but perhaps it goes beyond that…

 

Paul Pogba

The last reports on Pogba ruled him out for at least 50 days following a muscular injury in the Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund. Juventus released an official statement last Thursday confirming the worst:

“Paul Pogba this afternoon underwent an MRI scan after coming off midway through the first half of last night’s Champions League match with Borussia Dortmund in Germany. The scan revealed a grade two myotendinous junction tear of his biceps femoris. He is expected to return to competitive action within the next 50 days.”

Pogba is expected to miss the remainder of the season including both legs of Juve’s Champions League quarter-final games against Monaco.

 

Andrea Pirlo

Injured in the first-leg of Juve’s last-16 clash against Dortmund, Pirlo has missed almost 4 weeks with a calf injury. Juve were initially optimistic about having the Maestro back in time for the second-leg in Germany, but his recovery took slightly longer than anticipated.

Today’s Gazzetta reports Pirlo will make a return in Juve’s home match against Empoli next weekend, and he will be available for the Coppa Italia and Champions League games against Fiorentina and Monaco.

 

Martin Caceres

A promising season has effectively come to an end for Juve’s Urugyuan defender. Caceres suffered a fractured ankle in training at the beginning of March and will miss at least 10 weeks of the season as confirmed by Juve’s official website:

The surgical procedure of osteosynthesis was applied to the fracture and the defender was also subjected to arthroscopy on his left ankle, a necessary course of treatment following the twist he suffered yesterday.

In addition, he underwent an arthroscopic capsuloplasty procedure, designed to stabilise his right shoulder.

The operation was successfully performed by Flavio Quaglia and Roberto Ravera at Turin’s Fornaca Clinic. Caceres is expected to make a full return to fitness in approximately 10 weeks’ time.

Kwadwo Asamoah

After undergoing knee surgery in December of 2014, Asamoah was expected to miss at least 4 months of the season. Having returned to individual training in the last few weeks, the Ghanian midfielder could return to team training after the latest international friendly matches (End of March).

 

Romulo

Having joined the Bianconeri on loan last summer, the Brazilian born midfield managed just 97 minutes all season before undergoing knee surgery at the end of last year. Precious little has been reported about his prospective return to action but there was talk of the player refusing a return to Hellas in favour of fighting for a place at Juventus.

The last we heard was from his agent, Alex Firmino, who spoke to TMW at the beginning of the month.

“I have not spoken to anyone,” he told Tuttomercatoweb.

“I have spoken to [Verona director Sean] Sogliano about other things, but I’ve never held discussions with Juventus.

“We have to wait, and decide his future along with [Fabio] Paratici [Juventus Sporting Director] and [Giuseppe] Marotta [Juventus Director General].

“In the next week we’ll know something. I’ll be in Europe, and probably in Turin.

“I think he’s a little bit short of returning to the pitch, it will take a bit of time, but he really wants it.”