Slovak football representative Stanislav Lobotka has recovered from a thigh injury and will be on the Napoli roster in the Italian Serie A clash against Inter Milan on Sunday.
Photo: PRESSINPHOTO SPORTS AGENCY / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
Stanislav Lobotka should be fit for the crucial Nations League match against Sweden.
The coach of the Italian Serie A table leader Antonio Conte informed about the recovery of the Slovak Footballer of the Year at the pre-match press conference.
“Lobo has been training with the team since the middle of the week and will be available for the match against Inter.” It is difficult to say now whether he will start from the beginning, we still have to assess it. We are all well aware of his qualities and how valuable he is to our team,” stressed Conte, for whom the duel will have a special charge.
In the 2020/2021 season, he led Inter to win the title. At that time, Lobotka’s teammate from the Slovak national team, Milan Škriniar, was part of the squad.
Lobotka was injured in October’s Nations League match against Azerbaijan (3:1) and missed the league matches against Empoli, Lecce, AC Milan and Atalanta Bergamo.
The experienced midfielder is not missing in the nomination of the coach of the Slovak national team, Francesco Calzona, for the final two LN duels against Sweden (November 15 in Stockholm) and Estonia (November 19 in Trnava), and his recovery is thus excellent news for the national team.
Conte also commented on the team’s performance during Lobotka’s absence. “You won’t hear me complain if I’m missing a player; we’ve assembled a squad to the best of our ability and I trust all the players I have at my disposal,” the Napoli coach said.
Lobotka has been struggling with a left muscle strain and the return of the Slovak to midfield is expected to stabilize Napoli’s play.
Conte reflected on the challenges his team faced in Lobotka’s absence: “When we don’t perform at our best, we lose duels and second balls, which makes things difficult. Every opponent can get us into trouble if we don’t give everything in the matches, added the coach.
Source: sportweb.pravda.sk
