Just two weeks after announcing to the public just how glorious the return of the original Ronaldo would be, AC Milan doctors have revealed a startling miscalculation of the severity of the striker’s thigh injury, which will now keep him from making his season debut until next month. The perennially injured Brazilian legend was supposed to be fit for the beginning of the season, but then his injury was stretched to three weeks into the season, and now, it looks like he’ll be out of action until mid-October. The 30-year-old Ronaldo is back in Rio de Janeiro, of course, where he’s receiving treatment from the Brazilian national team doctor.
But as AC Milan’s medical team readily admits, it was their mistake. “We got the first diagnosis wrong,” Jean Pierre Meersseman, the head of Milan’s medical department, told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Monday. “At the start of next week, we’ll know more, but I think he’ll be able to play in about a month.”
That’s bad news for the Milan attack, which is already short of natural strikers. The aging Filippo Inzaghi and the out-of-form Alberto Gilardino are the only established names in the Rossoneri’s frontline. Meanwhile new Brazilian signing Alexandre Pato must wait until January to make his Serie A debut. Ronaldo will now likely miss the European champions’ first two Champions League matches, against Benfica and Glasgow Celtic.