The highly-rated midfielder suffered another knee injury
Eliot Matazo’s Championship comeback lasted a few minutes before injury hit again(Image: Sean Troup/Shutterstock)
Hull City will assess the knee injury picked up by Eliot Matazo inside the opening 10 minutes of his first Championship game in 14 months at Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
Sergej Jakirovic admitted he may take a risk with the Belgian, who hadn’t played since rupturing his knee ligament in Cardiff last February, but it backfired in devastating fashion.
The Belgian midfielder fell to the floor outside the City box after only a few minutes of their 2-1 defeat at The Valley, and though he was able to continue after a spell of treatment, he departed soon after.
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Matazo cut a forlorn figure as he trudged off the Valley pitch, and he will now undergo an MRI scan to determine the extent of the injury, which occurred in the opposite knee to the one he damaged in South Wales.
If City fans are looking for some crumbs of comfort surrounding Matazo’s prognosis, the unfortunate midfielder suggested in the dressing room that he didn’t think it was as bad as initial fears.
“Matazo got an injury which is unbelievable as well, and we will see what the problem is with his knee,” Jakirovic told Hull Live.
“It’s the opposite knee, his right knee, so we will see after the MRI scan. He feels like it’s not like a previous injury, ACL, but we will see after the scan. He’s disappointed, obviously, because he’s waited so long to make this appearance.”
With Amir Hadziahmetovic and Toby Collyer out for the season, and Darko Gyabi still feeling his way back from a groin injury, Jakirovic felt his options were limited, and it was a risk worth taking given that Matazo had trained well and felt fit to start.
“My decision was very easy, we have him, we have Regan Slater, it’s better for him to start Matazo and then Slater can come later,” the Croatian continued.
“Slater is also not in good shape because he started to train only five days ago, so it’s also one problem for us.”
Yu Hirakawa, Darko Gyabi and Matty Jacob were not involved in the squad, but there were no injury issues, according to Jakirovic.
“Yu, Darko and Matty Jacob were not in the squad,” he continued. “We put on the bench what we needed for this game, especially with these long balls, the second ball, so we need a better body constitution there, and that’s it.”
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