Giorgio Chiellini’s injury is disastrous for Juventus

The chase for their first Champions League in 2 decades may have become much more difficult for Juventus on Monday.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Giorgio Chiellini injured his calf in training on Monday. He is now believed to be doubtful to play in the first leg against Ajax on Wednesday leaving Juve with Leonardo Bonucci and Daniele Rugani as the only available options to play center back. This is a Juve fan’s worst nightmare heading into the Champions League quarterfinal as Chiellini has been the only player Juve can rely on this season in the center of the defense.

Leonardo Bonucci has been a huge liability for Juve all season long, including handing AC Milan the opening goal in Saturday’s match. Daniele Rugani still hasn’t developed into the player Juve have hoped for over the last few years and now his lack of progress has become an issue for a very shallow back line.

More from Champions League

• PSV Eindhoven v Rangers: Can Gers make it through to group stage?
• Manchester City win their first Champions League
• Champions League Final: Manchester City meets Internazionale in Istanbul
• Manchester City standing on the cusp of a treble
• Barcelona Femeni win their second Champions League title

This injury just adds to what has been a brutal few weeks for the health of Juve’s squad. Juventus was already without Douglas Costa, Andrea Barzagli, and Juan Cuadrado when Cristiano Ronaldo was injured on international duty in March. Then his injury was followed by Emre Can leaving the match early against Milan on Saturday.

In spite of the sheer quantity of injuries and the fact that one of them was to Ronaldo, it seemed as though Juve would be capable of surviving these setbacks on Wednesday. That changed with the injury to Chiellini. Even with the possibility that Ronaldo can return on Wednesday, the injury to Chiellini will make it much more likely that Juve is playing from behind in the second leg for the second consecutive round.

It’s not hard to see the difference between Juve with and without their captain. In his absences, the defense has looked shaky against any team who could threaten in the attacking half. However, his leadership may be missed even more than his defensive ability when Juve is forced to take the field without him.

Chiellini is the last remnant of the Juve squads that allowed the club to reach the point it is at right now. He embodies the spirit of those Juve teams that fought their way back to the top of European football unlike anybody else on the team.

Without him, Juventus will be left with the leadership of Bonucci. That’s right. When Chiellini is gone the leadership duties fall to a player who left to go to a rival, celebrated when he scored for that rival against Juve, and then ditched that rival to come back to Juve after they ended up in the Europa League again. His leadership has never looked worse than it does right now after he threw Moise Kean under the bus in the aftermath of Kean being racially abused against Cagliari.

If Chiellini is absent against Ajax then Juventus will need to be able to secure at least one away goal against Ajax. That means they will need Ronaldo in the lineup and, more importantly, they will need Ronaldo to use his experience as a winner in the Champions League to lead Juventus to an acceptable result. These are the matches that Juve signed Ronaldo for. Now if he can’t step up for Juve on Wednesday then the return of Chiellini and another spectacular second leg from Ronaldo might just not be enough for Juve to advance this time around.