Madrid face up to Gago blow
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Article summary
Real Madrid CF midfielder Fernando Gago will miss the UEFA Champions League trip to FC Zenit St. Petersburg after he was sidelined for four weeks with a thigh tear suffered in the 2-0 defeat of FC BATE Borisov.
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Busy period
The 22-year-old limped off 36 minutes into his team's 2-0 win against FC BATE Borisov on Wednesday, with Mahamadou Diarra coming on in his place, and will now not travel to Russia on 30 September. "The injury to Gago was an unfortunate one for us because we've got a lot of games coming up and I'd been counting on his presence in many of them," said Madrid coach Bernd Schuster. As well as missing the visit to the UEFA Cup holders, the former CA Boca Juniors player will miss out on the Primera División encounters with Real Racing Club Santander, Sporting Gijón, Real Betis Balompié and RCD Espanyol.