Defending European champions Italy could have landed a big spanner in their work ahead of the upcoming Euro 2024 in Germany after star man and Sassuolo midfielder Domenico Berardi went off injured on Sunday (Mar 3) against Hellas Verona. Berardi, who will be an important feature in the midfield for Luciano Spalletti’s Italy could now miss action for several months with a serious Achilles tendon injury suffered in his return match against Verona. The 29-year-old is likely to be ruled out of this summer’s Euro 2024 and was seen in tears while being taken off for Sassuolo.
Berardi to miss Euro 2024?
Returning after a lengthy knee issue, Berardi went down in the 58th minute in the Serie A clash against Verona on Sunday. While the score was still goalless, it was diagnosed that Berardi suffered a serious Achilles tendon injury which could require several months to recover. Considering, that the Euro 2024 opening match is just over three months away and the injury requires 3-4 months of recovery period at least, Berardi is likely to miss the Euro 2024. Having only returned from the knee injury which required surgery, this will be a huge setback for the player and the club.
Berardi’s miss was a huge factor in the context of the entire Serie A season on Sunday after Verona beat Sassuolo 1-0. The win saw Verona open a three-point gap in the relegation battle, with Sassuolo now on 20 points after 27 matches while the former is outside the relegation zone with 23 points from the same number of matches.
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For Italy, although they have tons of talent in the midfield in the form of Giacomo Bonaventura, Alessandro Bastoni and Manuel Locatelli it will be hard for them to replace a player of Berardi’s quality. The 27-time Italy international has eight goals for the national side and has often scored vital goals for the side whenever required.
What next for Italy and Sassuolo?
It will be interesting to see how both Sassuolo and Italy deal with the player’s absence with both teams needing Berardi’s services to achieve different ambitions. Sassuolo’s bid to avoid the drop will now face serious challenges while Italy will have to be at their fluent best when they take guards in Germany to defend their crown which they won at Euro 2020 (held in 2021).
In its rich history, only Spain in 2008 and 2012 have been able to defend the Euro title as Italy tries to become just the second team to achieve the feat.
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