Riccardo Calafiori injury update after Arsenal star’s freak clash on international duty

Riccardo Calafiori suffered a worrying and painful-looking injury in Italy’s win over France on Friday night, although fears have quickly been played down by his manager.

On an eventful night in Paris the Italians fell behind within the first minute but left with a 3-1 win thanks to goals from Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori.

There was great concern in the second half, though, after Calafiori went down injured in a bizarre set of circumstances.

Italy’s Alessandro Bastoni cleanly won the ball from Ousmane Dembele, but followed through and caught the French forward.

Dembele went tumbling over and his flailing leg caught Calafiori in the back of the calf, with the Italian defender nothing to do with the original tackle.

The Gunners summer-signing looked in great pain and his teammates were clearly very worried as they gathered round him while he was on the deck.

The defender was taken off, but Italy boss Luciano Spalletti has played down concerns that he was seriously hurt and said he could even be fit to face Israel on Monday.

‘We need to assess Riccardo but with our staff, we’ve a good chance to have him back with us for the next game,’ said Spalletti.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta will be delighted with that update ahead of a busy schedule ahead for the rest of the month.

The Gunners do not play their first game of September until the 15th, but they still have five matches in the month across the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Arteta’s will hope Spalletti is correct and Calafiori is fit and available as quickly as the next game, with Arsenal next in action at Tottenham in the north London derby.

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