His knee buckles, tears flow. And Nicolo' Zaniolo sees his dream of wearing the Italy jersey at Euro 2020 slipping away. For the young Roma talent, barring a lightning recovery, the season ended half an hour into the first half of the match against Juventus at the Stadio Olimpico, under the watchful eye of coach Roberto Mancini. At the end of a long solo run, the Giallorossi midfielder attempted to run between Rabiot and De Ligt but ended up on the ground. He immediately asked to be substituted because he realized he had seriously injured himself. A feeling later confirmed by the medical tests performed immediately at Villa Stuart, after an initial consultation with Professor Mariani, which revealed a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee with an associated meniscal tear. Tomorrow, Zaniolo will be in the operating room for surgery and will try to accelerate a recovery that, however, appears unlikely. "I swear... I'll come back stronger than ever," the player wrote on Instagram, after wiping away tears and leaving the Rome clinic with his mother. He then attached a photo of him leaving the Olimpico pitch on a stretcher, his hands in his hair, with Cristiano Ronaldo nearby to console him. Zaniolo's long layoff is obviously a heavy blow for Roma, who have lost one of their key players. "It's a big problem, but now he has to focus on recovering quickly. We're sad for him, but tomorrow is another day," admitted coach Paulo Fonseca. It will now be up to sporting director Petrachi to decide how and if he can intervene in the transfer market to fill the void. This devastating injury adds to the many sidelines for Giallorossi players in the first half of the season, from Pellegrini to Cristante, who returned today in the second half of Roma vs. Juventus.
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