Juventus vice-captain Giorgio Chiellini will miss the next three games for his club after suffering a calf strain. The strain kept him out of Italy's friendly on Thursday, a 2-0 win against the Netherlands, whilst he will also miss his nation's opening qualifying match against Norway on Tuesday night.
The games that Chiellini will miss include The Old Lady's first home league game against Udinese on Saturday evening, as well as their opening Champions League game of the season, which will be played against Swedish side Malmö FF. There is a slight chance of a return by the 20th September, when Juve face AC Milan, though that is a distant possibility.
Juventus pulled the 30-year old out of the national side last week, a decision which the Italian Football Federation criticised Massimiliano Allegri and the club for. The club then released a statement after the defender had a scan on Monday:
"After his release from the Italian national squad's training camp on Saturday evening, Giorgio Chiellini today underwent a scan which revealed he has sustained an edema of the soleus muscle fibres in his calf. The 30-year-old's condition will be reassessed in the next few days whilst he undertakes a rehabilitation programme."
Chiellini was a part of the Italian side at the 2014 World Cup and was involved in a controversial incident, in which Luis Suarez bit the defender's shoulder. Suarez was fined over £65,000 and banned from all footballing activity (including training with team-mates and entering stadiums - two which were later dropped from the charge) for four months as a result.
There is some good news for Juventus, however, as Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal, who was linked with a move away from the club all summer, says that his knee is 100% and he can play. He suffered a knee injury last week in training for Chile, but made it through the 90 minutes against Mexico, reassuring Juventus fans that they had nothing to worry about:
“You can relax, my knee is back to 100 per cent. Now I am ready for the flight to Turin and in this game I proved that I can play in every Juventus match this season. I feel in great shape. We have a series of big games coming up: Udinese, then the Champions League and after that Milan. They will all be tough, I will have to be 100 per cent, but tonight I proved that I can play a full match without problems.”