Nuno Tavares was left in tears after being forced to limp off with injury during Lazio’s defeat to Bodo/Glimt. The left-back joined the Italian side on loan from Arsenal last summer after falling out of favour at the Gunners.
He arrived at the Emirates for £8million in 2021, but struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League and has been sent out on a series of loans. His latest is with Lazio, where he made a dream start to life.
The left-back notched nine assists in 26 competitive matches for Lazio, helping them to the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia and the Europa League. But his time at the Stadio Olimpico has been severely disrupted by injury.
He has suffered five different injury problems, forcing him to miss 14 matches overall. The 25-year-old had been hoping to make a comeback from an Adductor problem on Thursday night.
Tavares was a second-half substitute during the secondu0009 leg of Lazio’s Europa League quarter-final against Bodo/Glimt. The Italians trailled 2-0 from the first leg but were able to force extra-time thanks to Tijjani Noslin’s 93rd minute equaliser.
Having come on with 22 minutes remaining of normal time, Tavares would last just four minutes of extra-time. The 25-year-old was seen feeling a twinge of a muscle injury and burst into tears.
Teammate and former Arsenal star Matteo Guendouzi tried his best to console the Portugal international, while the crowd also chanted his name in reassurance as he left the pitch in Rome.
Lazio boss Marco Baroni revealed he has also joined the efforts to console the stricken star. Baroni insisted Tavares had trained well in the week and was impressed with his performance before his injury nightmare.
“He was crying, I tried to console him, the stadium was chanting his name. He is an important player for us, who clearly is going through a difficult situation with the injury,” Baroni said.
“He had trained well and felt ready, we brought on his energy down the left and he put lots of crosses in. Now we need to evaluate this fresh relapse. It was also disappointing because we had to use up a substitution, just when we needed fresh legs.”
Boulaye Dia headed Lazio ahead 10 minutes into extra-time but Andreas Helmersen equalised with 11 minutes to go. Bodo went on to win the penalty shootout 3-2 to leave Baroni devastated.
“There is pain, because we deserved to go through, because the team played an extraordinary match in a marvellous stadium with remarkable energy. We played well, created chances, were aggressive, pressed high,” he added.
“I am sad at the way it ended, but I am proud of the team, I thank the fans and can only congratulate everyone, including those who took the penalties. We need to give everyone positive energy and confidence now, because we still have a season to finish in Serie A.”
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