Lobotka set to miss Juventus clash as Napoli confirm injury

Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka is expected to miss Sunday’s Serie A match against Juventus after suffering a ‘muscle strain’ on Wednesday.

Defending Serie A champions Napoli will be forced to cope without their midfield star, Lobotka, in a Serie A match against rivals Juventus on Sunday.

The Partenopei confirmed in a statement on Thursday that the Slovakia international had suffered an injury the day before.

“Stanislav Lobotka sustained a muscle strain in the posterior tibial muscle of his left leg during Wednesday’s pre-match warm-up,” Napoli said in a statement.

“The Napoli player has already started the rehabilitation process.”

According to multiple sources, including Corriere dello Sport, Lobotka will not be available for Sunday’s Serie A match against Juventus.

Lobotka was not even meant to start in Napoli’s Coppa Italia game against Cagliari yesterday, but, as the Partenopei said, he got injured during the warm-up, so he didn’t even go on the bench.

Napoli eventually secured a 10-9 win on penalties against the Sardinians to progress to the Coppa Italia quarter-finals.

Napoli are already short of options in midfield as Kevin De Bruyne, Billy Gilmour and Frank Anguissa are also injured, which means Scott McTominay and Eljif Elmas will be the only central midfielders available against Juventus on Sunday.