Football: Injured Fawzi Ghoulam Will Undergo Surgery And Miss Competition For A Long Time

Algerian international footballer Fawzi Ghoulam has sustained a serious injury and will undergo surgery on the right knee.

Italy’s Napoli club said in a statement on Thursday that Fawzi Ghoulam suffered a rupture of the cruciate ligaments of the right knee after a test by the club’s doctor. He will be operated on Friday morning.

It is known that the cruciate ligament rupture is the most serious injuries for players, forcing them to undergo sustained medical treatment and to stay away from competition for a long period of between 4 and 6 months. 

Ghoulam’s injury is similar to that suffered by the former Algerian international striker Mohamed Amine Aoudia, early in 2014 with his team Dynamo Dresden of Germany.

Ghoulam fell due to this serious injury during the game between Italy’s Napoli and England’s Manchester City on Wednesday night, as part of the fourth round of the group stage of the European Champions’ League. 

He left the pitch in the 31st minute after sustaining injury (the relevant video is attached below), when his Italian team of Napoli was ahead with a 1-0 lead, before wrapping up the game with a 2-4 loss versus the English side.

Fawzi Ghoulam’s injury means he will officially be absent from the Algerian national team which will face the Nigerian and Central African national squads on November 10th and 14th respectively, in the framework of qualifying matches for the World Cup contest to be hosted by Russia in 2018 and as part of the preparations of the “Greens” of Algeria.

Fawzi Ghoulam, is the second Algerian international, to miss these two upcoming international matches after young defender Youcef Attal, who was also injured during his training with the Belgian club of Courtraix.