Russia face a major injury scare ahead of UEFA EURO 2008™ after it was revealed that star striker Pavel Pogrebnyak has a problem with the meniscus in his left knee just nine days before the start of the tournament.
Injury fear
Pogrebnyak picked up the injury early in last night's 2-1 victory against Serbia and now faces a race to be fit for his side's opening game against Spain on 10 June. The 24-year-old FC Zenit St. Petersburg striker travelled to Munich with team doctor Andrei Grishanov for precautionary tests this morning from Russia's training base in the German town of Rottah, and the diagnosis is worse than first feared.
'Irritation'
"He has a little irritation of the meniscus and a little rupture of the back part of it," Russia coach Guus Hiddink said. "He won't be training in the next few days but it is possible he will play at EURO. We will have a more precise ruling on him in the next few days. Even if the information about this injury is confirmed, I am not planning to call up another player instead of him."
'Pain'
Pogrebnyak limped off against Serbia on 16 minutes soon after opening the scoring in a 2-1 win with a long-range free-kick. He had not been involved in a collision with another player, but simply signalled to the bench that he was in serious pain and Hiddink took him off immediately. "I didn't understand [what had happened]," Pogrebnyak said. "There was no challenge but suddenly my left knee was in a lot of pain."
Good win
Pogrebnyak's injury overshadowed an otherwise successful night for Russia who went on to win thanks to a Roman Pavlyuchenko strike two minutes into the second half. "Of course I'm happy about the result, just like after any victory," Hiddink said. "It was important to understand the physical condition of the players. We want to be competitive at EURO 2008, that's why we put a lot of effort into being successful in both friendly and competitive matches."
Top scorer
Pogrebnyak, who has scored four times in nine appearances for Russia, is a key member of Hiddink's side and comes into the tournament buoyed by finishing the season as the ten-goal top scorer in the UEFA Cup alongside Luca Toni. The 24-year-old, however, had the misfortune of missing Zenit's final victory against Rangers FC through suspension so will be doubly determined to be sure he is fit for Russia's opener in Innsbruck.
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