Chelsea star Cesar Azpilicueta has shared his thoughts on why so many footballers, including Raphael Varane, get injured ahead of the World Cup.
In the Premier League, many teams are seeing top players walk off the pitch with injury.
A couple of days ago, Raphael Varane suffered the same fate when he was substituted during the first half as he was unable to continue.
This was during United’s all-important 1-1 draw away to Chelsea, with the Premier League side also suffering through a rough run of injuries in recent weeks.
This appears to be what prompted the Chelsea man to speak out and, according to The Manchester Evening News, Azpilicueta believes the crazy October schedule is the reason so many players are suffering major injuries.
The defender said: “It’s difficult and it’s sad because as players you want to go to the World Cup, but we have this calendar where we have to play for our club and give our best. We are fighting a lot for the welfare of the players because the calendar is crazy”.
“Sometimes we have to consider everything and I think we are in talks with FIFA. It’s difficult because I understand that the fans want to watch football”.
“We have five backups now, but we have a couple of injuries on our team that make the rotation difficult. We are playing every few days, but it is like that and we have to take a step forward”.
During October, United have already played seven times this month with two games per week.
By the end of the month, the Red Devils will have completed nine matches with four games before international competition begins.
Since the World Cup takes place during most of November and December, the Europa League group stage had to be completed before then.
The Premier League also had to squeeze their games into an already congested start to the season.
United will hope no one else gets injured before the World Cup despite the number of games left to play.
