So apparently Brozovic broke his toe?

Well it looks like the Geoffrey Kondogbia - Roberto Gagliardini midfield duo will be getting even more playing time together. Today out of nowhere Inter released a statement saying that Marcelo Brozovic had fractured a bone in his toe on his right foot in Sunday’s game. The club didn’t say how long it will take for the 24 year old to recover but I can imagine it will take at least a month, though some reports in Italy suggested he could be back by the end of February which would be quite surprising.

My question is: when exactly did this injury occur? When I watched the match live I didn’t recall him limping off the pitch or anything like that. To be sure, I hunted down a replay of the match and watched his last few minutes and sure enough, Brozovic was jogging and passing the ball around just fine. When he got subbed off his face showed more disappointment than pain so either the Croatian midfielder has an incredible poker face/tolerance for pain or he did something stupid after he was withdrawn.

Some have suggested that Brozovic kicked the steps in frustration and that could have been the source of his injury. I couldn’t see if from the replay but this wouldn’t be too surprising. Brozovic has had some discipline issues in the past (most notably with Frank De Boer) but maybe this time karma decided to take the more direct route with him. Given the way he looked coming off the pitch I don’t believe he got hurt before his substitution but I can’t say for sure how he picked up the injury. Either way I hope he recovers quickly and comes back as strong as ever (though maybe a little calmer).