Manolas Injury Not Severe, Could Play in Derby

For those ignorant to the sport of football, whether willfully or not, the game has a somewhat soft reputation; the diving, the complaining, and the feigning injury to kill time all conspire to belie the true physicality of the sport. I was once one of those ignorant Americans...until I tried playing and truly realized how fast, how physical and how tough the sport can be, particularly in the trenches as it were.

But, when you see a guy as tough as Kostas Manolas writhing around in pain, to the point where he had to be stretchered off the pitch, your prior assumptions about the sport tend to give way to reality.

After suffering what appeared to be an ankle injury late in the second half, the whole of Rome let out a collective gasp: the Giallorossi would be well and truly fucked without Manolas for any significant stretch of time. Sure, Federico Fazio and Juan Jesus could do a decent enough job in the short run, but if the look of pain on Manolas’ face was any indication, he was going to be out awhile...a long while.

Fear no more...

Il Tempo's Alessandro Austini is the bearer of good news in this instance, providing a brief update on Manolas’ ankle. While no actual medical prognosis was provided, we can assume it proved to be no more than a sprain, as he's considered likely to play this weekend against Lazio, assuming his pain subsides. The same cannot be said for Cengiz Ünder per that Tweet, however—I, uh, have no idea what's going on with him.

Manolas may have dodged a bullet, but take a look at his injury history with Roma:

Transfermarkt

While he's not yet in Thomas Vermaelen's neighborhood, Manolas does have a bit of track record, though when you tally it up, he hasn't missed that many games. But given Monchi's complete aversion to kitting out the defense properly, whatever time Manolas does miss weighs heavily.

Manolas isn't a perfect defender, but he's the best Roma have had in quite some time, and his penchant for picking up minor knocks is probably attributable to his unbridled style of play—you take the good with the bad.

One thing is for certain, you don't want a derby without Manolas—he LIVES for those matches.