Raphaël Varane, injured, comes out in tears during Chelsea-Manchester United

Is Raphaël Varane already giving up on the World Cup in Qatar, which starts in three weeks? Manchester United’s French international defender was injured during the Premier League game at Chelsea on Saturday before leaving the field walking but in tears.

After trying to intercept a through pass to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang shortly before the hour mark, the player’s right foot seemed to crash into the ground and he tumbled forward. Raphaël Varane remained for a long time with his face on the ground and apparently already aware of the seriousness of his injury, before the trainers intervened. He refused to go out on a stretcher, seemingly walking around the pitch normally, to jeers from Blues fans, his face in his jersey or buried in his hands to wipe away tears. Raphaël Varane’s injury is a priori located in the hamstrings (back of the thigh), we learned from the player’s entourage contacted by AFP.

One month before the first match of the French team in Qatar, against Australia, and despite his reaction which seems to leave little hope, the results of the first examinations for the vice-captain of the Blues will be scrutinized with anxiety by the coach Didier Deschamps and his staff.

“With this type of injury, you have to wait at least 24 hours before you can make a diagnosis”

Despite the warm embrace of his coach Erik ten Hag when he reached the entrance to the locker room, he entered the tunnel reserved for players with his head bowed. After the game, ten Hag was evasive about the player’s condition. “Nothing,” he first replied when asked by Sky Sports what he could say about the severity of the injury or his chances of playing at the World Cup.

“With this type of injury, you have to wait at least 24 hours before you can make a diagnosis,” he then stressed at a press conference. Asked about the player’s tears when he left, the coach assured “understand his emotion, but he has to wait, we don’t know”. “Obviously he has experience (of these injuries), but the club’s medical sector must do its job to get the right diagnosis,” he insisted.

Varane had already missed a month and a half and nine games with his club with a similar injury from early November to late December last season. This injury is a big blow for the former Madrid player who remained on good performances with the Red Devils and who had already missed Euro-2016 due to a left thigh injury, contracted at the end of May.