Sporting and Mareo: squad blames pitch amid wave of injuries

Sporting are dealing with rising unrest in the dressing room over a run of injuries, with multiple players sidelined by muscle issues and fiber tears that have piled up throughout the campaign. In the match against Celta Fortuna, another set of players went down, and the squad is pointing at Mareo’s training pitches as a key part of the problem.

Mareo under suspicion

José Riestra, the club’s executive president, has received the dressing room’s frustration in an attempt to stem what insiders describe as a crisis already edging toward nearly half of the first team. Juan Otero, Nikita Iosifov and Antonio Casas suffered hamstring fiber tears; Bruno Rubio has already missed two weeks and Gaspar was injured in late August. Loum, Nacho Martín and Konrad de la Fuente have been affected with knee problems.

In the latest game, Enol Prendes left limping with visible pain after a thigh issue, while Álex Corredera played the full 90 despite cramps and finished with a significant muscular overload. On Monday, tests were carried out at Mareo to assess the damage, though the initial assessment is that it is not as serious as Casas’.

Concern over the pitches

Inside the club, the focus is also on pre-season workload management and preparations, plus the condition of the grounds. The situation at El Molinón is part of the backdrop too: Riestra previously said the pitch has softened and doesn’t provide the firmness desired, and lifting and replanting it is not ruled out, with a wider overhaul discussed.

Ahead of the next match against Cádiz, coach Larcamón expects to have Guillamón and Gelabert available, but the bigger issue remains up front: three of the club’s four strikers are injured and both wingers are also unavailable. Against Celta Fortuna, Sporting had three players from the reserves on the bench at the end, with Mata debuting on Sunday.