Madrid, Oct 20 (IANS) Athletic Club Bilbao striker Gorka Guruzeta will miss the rest of the season after suffering a serious knee injury, leaving coach Edin Terzic with further attacking problems ahead of Wednesday’s rescheduled La Liga match away to Levante.
Guruzeta ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Valencia, adding to an injury list that already includes Spain international winger Nico Williams and attacking midfielder Oihan Sancet.
“The doctor approached me during the match and told me it didn’t look good,” Terzic said at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.
“Guru had already suffered a similar injury in his other leg [in 2019], so he immediately felt that something was wrong,” he added.
Terzic praised the 30-year-old striker’s attitude despite the setback. “His optimism is on another level. Our duty now is to support him so that when he is ready to return, he steps back into a highly successful team.”
Athletic has drawn its last three La Liga matches, scoring just once, and Terzic acknowledged that improving the team’s attacking effectiveness would take time. “It’s true that we are currently struggling to score, but our opponents also find it very difficult to score against us,” he said.
“Being more dangerous and clinical in the penalty area is a process; it isn’t solved in a single training session. Today, we look for instant solutions to everything with technology, but we work with human beings, not automated response buttons. You can’t just go to Google or ChatGPT for answers.”
Terzic confirmed that Sancet would miss Wednesday’s match but said Williams could return, stressing the importance of making “smart, long-term decisions” over injured players.
The match was originally scheduled for September 16 but was postponed after torrential rain flooded the pitch at Levante’s Ciutat de Valencia Stadium.
On Monday, Athletic Bilbao defender Dani Vivian addressed the groin problem that sidelined him for the first seven games of the season and cost him a place at last summer’s World Cup.
The 27-year-old returned to full training last week after months of rehabilitation for an adductor insertion injury that first troubled him in January. Rather than stop playing when the problem emerged, Vivian said he carried on to help his club during a difficult run of results.
–IANS
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