Just days after talking up the chances of a successful 2014, Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva has suffered another injury which could keep him out of action for a lengthy period of time.
The Brazilian started yesterday’s Premier League draw against Aston Villa on the bench but entered the field at half-time in place of Philippe Coutinho.
However, he only stayed on for 21 minutes as a challenge between himself and Villa’s Fabian Delph resulted in Lucas receiving a painful blow to the knee which wouldn’t allow him to continue.
The Daily Express report that the Brazilian could have suffered medial ligament damage, which would see him out for around six to eight weeks.
Lucas has been unlucky with injuries over recent seasons and injured his cruciate in his left knee in 2011, causing him to miss a large chunk of the season.
After the match, manager Brendan Rodgers was quoted by the official website as saying he hoped the injury wasn’t too serious.
The Liverpool manager said: “He clashed knees with an opponent, so we’ll just see how he is.
“He just felt a little click in his knee. Hopefully it’s not too serious. We’ll not know for the next 24 to 48 hours.”
Lucas will hope for his sake that the injury isn’t serious and doesn’t dampen his hopes of making Luiz Felipe Scolari’s World Cup squad.
