Sporting receive bad news on injury for Arsenal clash
Sporting receive bad news on injury for Arsenal clash Sporting CP have received some early bad news ahead of their Champions League clash against Arsenal, with Nuno Santos set to miss the first leg. Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images Portuguese outlet O Jogo reports that Sporting left-back Nuno Santos suffered an injury setback in their last games against Alverca, and the muscle injury is set to keep him out of at least the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash with Arsenal. The left thigh injury is expected to keep Santos out for three weeks, according to O Jogo’s information, making he’ll miss the league game against Santa Clara and the home leg against Arsenal.
The aim is then to return for the league match against Estrela Amadora. If Santos can do that, he’d then be available for the Champions League second-leg match at the Emirates Stadium on April 15th. Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images Santos has had an injury-hit season so far, only playing his first games of the campaign in February after a knee injury had kept him out for over a year.
But it seems the club are keen to use him when fit, as he’d returned to the starting lineup before suffering this new setback. As well as Santos, Sporting will be without team captain (and boyhood Arsenal fan) Morten Hjulmand for the first leg, after he picked up a yellow-card suspension in their win over Bodo/Glimt. Hjulmand is perhaps the bigger miss, as he’s played almost every minute of Sporting’s Champions League campaign so far, only coming off early in one game against Kairat Almaty and missing one other through a previous suspension.
Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images Further updates on Sporting’s injuries should be available closer to the match, with the likes of Geovany Quenda (on loan from Chelsea and recovering from a metatarsal fracture) potentially in line to return against Arsenal.