French international Manu Kone, the Roma player, will be absent for three weeks after the injury he suffered in the Champions League on Wednesday, but he is expected to return to the field before the next international break, according to what his coach announced on Saturday, on the eve of the seventh stage of the Italian League.
Gian Piero Gasperini said before his team faced Genoa: “(Kone) underwent an MRI, and it showed a first-degree injury to the thigh. “It is not a particularly serious injury, but it will take some time.”
He added: “We hope that he will be ready to return in the Sassuolo match (on November 7th), and perhaps a little before that.”
The 25-year-old French midfielder is expected to miss 4 matches in the Italian League and two matches in the Champions League, while Roma currently occupies third place in “Serie A”.
During the recent international break, which witnessed the beginning of Zinedine Zidane’s reign at the helm of the French national team, Kone (22 international matches) participated in 3 out of 4 matches played by “Blue Club”, and played the entire first match in the 1-0 victory over Türkiye.
The French national team will play its next two matches in the European Nations League on November 12 against Italy, and then on November 15 against Türkiye.
Atletico Madrid achieved a difficult victory away from home with a clean goal at the expense of its host Espanyol, on Saturday, in the match that was held at Espanyol Stadium in Barcelona, in the ninth round of the Spanish Football League.
Substitute Alex Baena, the Spanish international striker, scored the only goal of the match in the 89th minute, from a pass from Argentine Julián Alvarez, to snatch the visiting team 3 difficult points, maintaining its winning streak.
This victory raised Atletico Madrid's tally to 22 points in second place, two points behind leaders Barcelona, who play later, Saturday, with Real Betis.
As for Espanyol, it remains in twelfth place with 8 points.
This victory is the sixth in a row for Atletico in all tournaments. Since losing to Liverpool in the Champions League, it has defeated Real Sociedad, Osasuna, Real Madrid and Deportivo Alaves in the league, and also defeated Manchester United in the Champions League.
A brace by Portuguese Pedro Neto led Chelsea to continue returning to the right track, when it inflicted its host Everton's first loss of the season with two clean goals, in the seventh round of the English Premier League, on Saturday, but lost its Argentine goalkeeper, Emiliano Martinez, who was out injured.
The Blues corrected their slow start with a second successive victory after a victory over Bournemouth (5-1), after a bad start that witnessed two losses away from home against their neighbor Arsenal (1-2) and Brentford (0-3).
Cole Palmer's colleagues killed two birds with one stone; They succeeded in breaking up the partnership with Everton, which had a superior goal difference before the match, raising their score to 13 points in fourth place temporarily, and emerging with a clean sheet for the first time in 23 league matches.
As for the Liverpool City Club team, it suffered its first loss, after a series of draws. He came away with one point in four matches out of five before Saturday's match.
Unusually, the Spanish team, Xabi Alonso, entered the match without playing matches in the middle of the week, due to its absence from European competitions due to its disappointing tenth place in the league last season.
At Hill Dickinson Stadium, the rough encounter had a technical surprise start; The first 25 minutes witnessed only decent chances, before Everton's attacking awakening, through a header from German Merlin Rolle (26), and a dangerous shot by its star Jack Grealish (30), executed brilliantly by goalkeeper Martinez.
The London club almost scored against the course of play, through a missile shot by Ecuadorian Moises Caicedo (40), which was blocked by the crossbar.
As for Neto, he alerted the “Toffees” with a strong shot at the end of the half, which was blocked by Jordan Pickford (45 + 1), before he opened the scoring in the first minutes of the second half with a low shot that went under Pickford following a cross from the Dutchman Jurel Hato.
The guests' joy was spoiled when their goalkeeper, Martinez (75), left the field on a stretcher after a long intervention by the medical team, following a strong collision with Garrad Branthwaite.
Neto secured Chelsea's victory in the last minute of regular time, taking advantage of a shot that the opponent's defense missed.
