While Napoli are rejoicing for a much-needed win over Juventus, they are set to be short-handed for the foreseeable future as David Ospina and Hirving Lozano suffered right thigh injuries on Saturday. The goalkeeper was supposed to start but got hurt during warm-ups: he was diagnosed with a grade one pull of the adductor muscles and is set to miss 10-to-14 days.
The forward instead managed to finish the game but was visibly limping and in pain in the final minutes. The club announced that he has sustained a second grade pull of the biceps femoris muscle and he is poised to be sidelined for about a month, Sky Italy reports.
The problems come at an inopportune time as Napoli will play the two legs of the Europa League’s Round of 32 against Granada within next ten days and will face Atalanta on Sunday. Gennaro Gattuso is also without the two starting center backs Kalidou Koulibaly, who faces an uncertain timetable as he is battling COVID-19, and Kostas Manolas, who is expended to be on the mend for three more weeks with an ankle sprain. Moreover, Dries Mertens is in Belgium to rehab a lingering ankle injury and Diego Demme and Elseid Hysaj are dealing with muscular ailments.
Alex Meret got the call late against Juventus and produced one of the best performances of his career, while Lozano will mostly be replaced by Matteo Politano, who will be elevated from his usual back-up role. The Italian winger has tallied 9 goals and 2 assists in 31 seasonal appearances, while Lozano is Napoli’s leading scorer as he has hit the net 13 times across all competitions.