The injuries are taking headline crowd this season. In the middle and early eleven, since the plague is almost biblical. Fulfilled half season, ProFootballDB take an exhaustive look at the infirmaries of the major leagues to put data to that certainty. And scares: more than 73% of the ‘cracks’ who play in those championships have already missed a game due to various ailments.
The data is devastating. To limit the concept of ‘cracks’, we go to footballers with 80 or more ELO points nowadays. This sample includes 288 footballers from LaLiga, Premier, Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1. Well 212 of them have suffered some kind of ailment since the course began. But not only that, but the sum of injuries amounts to 402. That is, injured and with recidivism.
Dissecting all ailments, we find up to 45 different types. The highlight is that the 21.39% responds to muscle injuries. But the coronavirus already appears as the second reason for the stars to miss matches, with 15.42%. Another value to take into account regarding COVID-19 is that of the total sample, a 21.53% of them has contracted the disease. One in five.
The podium of main injuries is occupied by hamstring problems, one of the most feared by players. 39 injuries 9.7% of the total have been focused there.
In addition, the 6,97% He came after bruises, either in games or training. Looking exclusively at which are the most punished bones of footballers, we find the knee as the great injured: there have already been 19 there focused to date (4,73%). Of course, from the ‘top ten’ of problems, half are muscular.
The coaches are screaming because the calendar itself was already loaded, but the limp that has been generating the coronavirus crisis the picture has worsened much more. Let them tell technicians like Klopp, who has been left without his central partner and who has seen many of his ‘cracks’ parade through the infirmary, hence it is no coincidence that Liverpool has so difficult to renew the title. The only justice is poetic, since no one is getting rid of the escabechina, although some are being more affected than others. We take a look league by league.
Months ago, we could feel that the Spanish competition was suffocated by so many casualties. The coronavirus has not been especially harmful to suspend meetings, as in other countries, but it has been causing a continuous trickle of casualties. November was a black month about.
And although COVID-19 does not understand names (Joao Félix, Luis Suárez, Casemiro, Hazard, Pjanic, Umtiti, Fekir, Koundé … have fallen), the load of matches has also done a lot of damage. Quite a few bone and muscle injuries have been recorded, so the picture total ailments has grown to 69. And, be careful, concentrated on 43 different players. Total, 71.67% of Spanish soccer stars has been injured at some point.
Sergio Ramos, Hazard, Carvajal, Varane, Modric, Kroos, Courtois and Benzema have been the illustrious victims of Real Madrid. The Belgian midfielder takes the cake: he has had muscle problems, a trauma and the coronavirus has passed.
At BarçaFor their part, the victims to date have been Messi, Coutinho, Piqué, Sergi Roberto, Lenglet, Jordi Alba (Ansu fati, due to his age, he only has 60 ELO points, although his potential is 86 and he is still low after having undergone surgery). The star and captain has only avoided COVID-19: he suffered an ankle and a problem in his thigh before the Super Cup.
The leader must have lost at some point Joao Félix, Luis Suárez, Giménez, Savic, Saúl or Trippier, while another of the champions of the championship, the Sevilla, has been diminished (not so in performance) without the Jesús Navas, Diego Carlos, Ocampos, Suso, Rakitic and Koundé.
Iago Aspas, the man who holds the Celtic and one of the most decisive forwards in the championship, or David Silva, one of the few star signings of the summer, has also had to lose more games than desired.
It is no coincidence that England is the hardest hit (73.33%). As a percentage, it is not the highest index, but it is in absolute terms, since up to 164 injuries have been recorded already among their teams. To contextualize: the following is Italy, with 75. In addition, with a very democratic affectation, since until 77 footballers have fallen. And we are talking about the country with the most major league competitions. Premier, FA Cup, EFL Cup y Community Shield (and this only concerning the first categories) are too much. Normal that technicians like Jürgen Klopp, with the infirmary loaded every week, would explode even pointing to televisions for what he considers an exploitative model for the player.
English doctors were not wrong when they predicted a high risk of injury since football was resumed last year. And since the affectation has eroded enough the members of the ‘Big Six’, the resonance of the complaints has been greater. The latest case of Harry Kane, injured in both ankles in the same game, sublimates the epidemic of fallen in the Premier.
However, the paradigm of punished, in England and in any of the great ones, is the Liverpool. The current champion is almost without options to revalidate the title when there are still 17 days ahead, but the damage has been in quantity, quality and time: many ‘cracks’ have been injured and some seriously. Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Fabinho, Alexander-Arnold, Thiago, Diogo Jota, Mane… As if that were not enough, the coronavirus has made several visits to the locker room to date, including Salah.
Likewise, the Omen, Rashford, Werner, Pogba, Sterling, Gabriel Jesus, Vardy, De Bruyne, Son, Havertz, Maguire, Aubameyang … Of course, Bale’s twins could not be absent, although the Welshman is not included in the study because his current ELO is on the ground (71), precisely due to his lack of continuity in recent times.
This concentration of competitions on English soil has made England also the league with more meetings suspended by coronavirus. Too many trips and so much crash during the week have hardly allowed the technicians to complete quality training with theirs. To the point that the option of playing matches of less than 90 minutes has been raised.
Italy has the league where the most doctors and physiotherapists are working with their figures. And is that 80.77% of them have fallen at least once, overwhelming. Of the 52 players with 80 or more ELO points, 42 have suffered ailments. And also, with enough recidivism, since the total of injuries goes up to 75.
So much Cristiano Ronaldo as Ibrahimovic, great figures of the competition, have passed the coronavirus and have been burdened by muscle problems (much more in the case of the Swede). A type of ailment the latter that has also affected Lukaku, who completes the podium of the top scorers in Serie A. But pay attention to this data: of the 20 best scorers to date, only Kessié has been spared having fallen (of this ‘top 20’, 12 have 80 or more ELO points).
The Milan he has seen how the casualties have been splashing him day after day, so his leadership has double merit. Kjaer, Çalhanoglu, Theo Hernández, Ibrahimovic, Romagnoli and Donnarumma have passed through the infirmary. A shared reality en the ‘neroazzurra’ part from the city due to the casualties of Lautaro Martínez, Arturo Vidal, Lukaku, Brozovic, Achraf, Barella and Skriniar.
The star screening among the greats has been much higher still. Have not been spared Juventus (Cristiano Ronaldo, De Ligt, Chiesa, Cuadrado, Morata, Bonucci), Naples (Mertens, Fabián Ruiz, Manolas, Koulibaly, Insigne and Zielinski), Atalanta (Hateboer, Zapata, Gosens, Gollini, Pasalic and De Roon), Roma (Mkhitaryan y Dzeko) ni Lazio (Luis Alberto, Acerbi, Milinkovic-Savic and Immobile).
German football started rolling in the hope that the public would gradually return to the stadiums. In fact, the measure was approved, but the outbreaks had to postpone said measure until next year. There also the coronavirus has been felt. And although we speak of ‘only’ 34 Bundesliga stars injured, suppose the 75.56% of the total, which leaves the second-highest percentage in the major leagues.
As in Italy, casualties have been very significant. The top five scorers of the championship, Lewandowski (24), André Silva (16), Haaland (14), Weghorst (13) and Kramaric (13), have passed through the infirmary at least once.
The greats can attest to this. As for the champion, the casualties have devastated him, and COVID-19 has been quite noticeable. Goretzka and Javi Martínez were the last, although previously Gnabry, Süle or Zirkzee had also been infected. In addition, in games or training there was dribbling of falls with Sané, Pavard, Kimmich, Coman, Alaba, in addition to the aforementioned Lewandowski.
Amen from Bayern, the damage has also become very evident in the Borussia Dortmund and the RB Leipzig. In total, they have gathered 14 injured: Jadon Sancho, Meunier, Witsel, Hazard, Burki, Guerreiro, Hummels, Poulsen, Sabitzer, Szobozslai, Halstenberg, Upamecano, Klostermann y Dani Olmo.
The French is usually always the last in the rankings that affect the big leagues. It happens again in this analysis, although this time it is good news. Only 16 stars from Ligue 1, 61.54% of the total, have had to stop and thus have left an accumulated 29 injuries. Although in isolation it is still an important figure, the average falls considerably compared to the other championships.
Of course, in France they only concentrate 26 players with 80 or more ELO points, so we are still talking about significant damage. Here the coronavirus has also been noticed, especially at the beginning of the season, when some meetings had to be postponed. In addition, with the sad precedent of the abrupt end of the previous season, the leaders wanted to recover in health with strict sanitary regulations for the celebration of matches.
Of the ten players with the highest ELO in the category, only Memphis Depay has been able to boast of iron health so far. On the other hand, Neymar, Mbappé, Marquinhos, Anthony Lopes, Denayer, Aouar, José Fonte, Ben Yedder and Toko Ekambi have not been spared.
Likewise, other illustrious people have had their time in nursing, such as Keylor Navas, Danilo Pereira, Damien da Silva, Koscielny o Mandanda.
What is ELO
The ELO is a legacy value of chess applied to football to determine the level of a footballer. It is calculated taking into account variables such as difficulty of commitments, rivals, competitions, impacts at times of maximum pressure, decisive goals and assists, key plays, offensive, defensive contribution … Each concept is given a score and is determined by the performance of the protagonist. There are some points at stake and it is about taking them away from the rival. The higher the ELO, the higher the level of a footballer. The ELO of a team, then, is calculated through its players. This value rewards regularity and sustained performance, even though it is continually reviewed and updated.
