Thomas Hein
Raphael Varane suffered what at first seemed to be a horrific injury on October 22nd in Manchester United’s 1-1 draw away to Chelsea, which saw the French international leave the pitch in floods of tears and in obvious discomfort.
It was recently confirmed that he will play no more games for Manchester United until Boxing Day 2022.
The centre-back is currently receiving treatment and rehab for the injury, and French manager Didier Deschamps has told him to get fit quickly, or he could miss his chance to play in the upcoming world cup in Qatar.
What happened to Varane?
While playing in an away game for Manchester United against Chelsea on Saturday, October 22nd, in the 56th minute, Raphael Varane was trying to stop Chelsea’s forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from getting past him, which he failed to do.
In the process, it looked as though Varane was overstretched, which saw him land awkwardly and immediately go down.
He wasn’t stretchered off, but he was helped off the pitch by fellow teammates less than two minutes later. It was later found to be a hamstring injury.
He was visibly upset and hiding his face, and one of his first thoughts was probably that the injury would cause him to miss the world cup.
Deschamps has already publicly stated that he will not be taking injured players with him to the world cup, so Verane is now in a race against time to get back into top form.
Which games will Varane miss for United?
The 29-year-old missed the Europa League home game against FC Sheriff on October 27th, which United won 3-0 thanks to goals from Diogo Dalot in the 44th minute, Marcus Rashford in the 65th minute, and Cristiano Ronaldo in the 81st minute.
He also looks set to miss a home game against West Ham in the Premier League on October 30th, a Europa League group stage match against Real Sociedad (away) on November 3rd, an away game in the Premier League against Aston Villa on November 6th, and a home game, which is also against Villa but in the EFL Cup third round on November 10th.
The last Manchester United game that he will miss before the world cup is an away game against Fulham. It shouldn’t take him too long to get back from injury, and his first game back for United will likely be on December 27th, when they host Nottingham Forest at home.
If you want to watch any of these games, don’t forget that you can still get reasonably priced Man U tickets right now from several reputable online ticket vendors, such as Seatpick.
Will Varane play in the world cup?
There’s a good chance that he will play in the world cup, but only time will tell. France are in Group D along with Australia, Denmark, and Tunisia, and their first game is at 19:00 (GMT) on November 22nd against Australia. Their next game is against Denmark on November 26th, before they play Tunisia on November 30th.
To find out whether he will be included in Deschamps’s world cup squad to Qatar, the best thing to do would be to regularly check the major sports news outlets for the latest updates about Verane’s injury.
