Luis de la Fuente described the 3-1 victory over Georgia which secured Spain’s place as group winners and a seed at Euro 2024 as “the bitterest of my life” after Gavi was forced off with a knee injury that is expected to rule him out for the rest of the season and the European Championships.
Preliminary diagnosis suggests the Barcelona midfielder has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee after he twisted in an attempt to control the ball midway through the first half. A few minutes earlier, Gavi had gone down under a challenge from Luka Lochoshvili but he had continued. “He says it was not the knock but that he trod badly and his knee went,” De la Fuente said. “He’s [emotionally] broken, destroyed.”
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Gavi returned to Barcelona from Valladolid on crutches on Sunday night and will undergo tests to determine the full extent of the injury on Monday, but the national team doctor admitted at half-time that they were “very worried” while De la Fuente said after the final whistle: “It’s very unlikely that it is any less serious than it appears.” Officially, the Spanish football federation was describing the injury only as “important”.