Poland manager Jan Urban has admitted his complete shock towards the injury suffered by Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski, insisting the national team did nothing to put him at risk.
With the feud between Barcelona and Spain over Lamine Yamal’s injury still fresh, Poland is the latest national team to attract criticism, with a handful of reports blaming Urban for causing an injury which is expected to keep Lewandowski on the sidelines for around a month.
Lewandowski played 90 minutes for Poland just days before being diagnosed with the injury, which Urban confessed to Cadena SER he can hardly believe.
“There have been many rumors,” Urban explained. “I don’t know how many rumors there were, I haven’t heard them, but we have nothing to hide.
“We know he felt something during the match, but nothing more happened. We agreed that if anything happens, he’ll raise his hand and we’ll make the substitution. I’m very surprised because it seems he’ll be out for a while because he has a serious tear, and I find it hard to believe.
“If there’s a tear in the muscles, you can’t run at high intensity, it’s impossible. That’s why I’m the first one who’s very surprised because after the match I asked him how he was and he was fine, he didn’t feel injured. For me, he’s as important a player as he is for Barcelona, and we wouldn’t take any risks with his health. Lewandowski is important for both of us, but healthy.”
Urban: Lewandowski Did Not Ask to Be Substituted
“I don’t think the injury happened after the game,” Urban continued. “He felt something, but he finished the game in the end. I don’t know if, at times, he had a previous injury, and perhaps the scar from the previous injury could have affected him in some way in that area. I hope he recovers soon. If it were a muscle tear for me, I would have left the field.”
Urban confessed that Lewandowski did report a minor physical complaint but specifically insisted he did not think it was serious and did not require a substitution.
“At halftime, he told me he’d felt something, but it wasn’t serious enough to stop him to continue playing,” the Poland boss said. “The doctor and I had another striker warming up from the start of the second half in case we substituted him.
“I didn’t have to ask him on the pitch because he was so close to me. If he was in a bad position, he would raise his hand and I’d substitute him. There was no need to ask, or shout, or anything. After the game, he told me he was doing pretty well.”
A one-month absence would see Lewandowski miss no fewer than six games for Barcelona, including El Clásico against Real Madrid on Oct. 26. His involvement in November’s international break also appears to be in doubt and fans will be sweating over his chance of playing significant minutes when Hansi Flick’s side travel to face Chelsea in the Champions League on Nov. 25.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Robert Lewandowski’s ‘Impossible’ Injury Questioned by Poland Manager.