Robert Lewandowski of Poland in action during the UEFA Nations League match between Poland and Italy at the Energa Stadium. (Final score: Poland 0:0 Italy).
Robert Lewandowski suffered an ankle contusion and hematoma after being kicked there in Poland’s 0-0 draw against Italy in the UEFA Nations League over the weekend. The injury occurred in the 82nd minute of the goalless draw and forced Bayern Munich’s number 9 to hobble off and be replaced by Karol Linetty. He was seen on Poland’s bench with a large ice pack on his ankle after coming off and he looked to be in a decent amount of discomfort.
Per Poland’s national team spokesperson Jakub Kwiatkowski (via PolsatSport), Lewandowski will undergo an ultrasound ahead of Poland’s next match against Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. The ultrasound is more precautionary to make sure nothing is seriously wrong his ankle aside from the heavy bruising and hematoma.
Kwiatkowski said “injury” might be too big of a word in describing Lewandowski’s ankle: “Maybe an injury is too big a word, but there was a painful injury. On Monday, Robert will have an ultrasound scan, and physiotherapists will take care of his leg to prepare him for Wednesday’s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Time is short and the pain is quite severe, but Robert himself said that it was a bit better than it was right after the game. We will see how this situation develops further.”
Kwiatkowski continued by saying, “We will do everything we can to get Robert ready to play, but time is very short. There are two days left until the match, but we have good physiotherapists. Robert’s leg is in their hands. The injury is not serious, although it is painful. It is actually a matter of a few days and healing of this injury. We will see if there will be enough time for him to play in this match.”
Of course, as Bayern fans, we would rather not see our number 9 included in Poland’s team to face Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday, but if Poland’s medical team deems him fit enough to play, he’ll certainly want to suit up. Either way, it’s still something Bayern’s physios and medical staff will be keeping a close eye on with the amount of fixtures that they have coming up.
Hansi Flick has already made it clear that he’s going to be making a lot of changes to the starting lineup for Bayern’s first round DFB-Pokal match against FC Düren later on this week, so Lewandowski likely will be rested for that match, especially given his ankle knock. Still, though, Flick will hope that he’ll be ready to go for this weekend’s trip to take on Arminia Bielefeld in the Bundesliga. Four days after the match against Bielefeld, Bayern has their opening group stage match of the Champions League against Atletico Madrid at the Allianz Arena.
