Adelaide United will be sweating on the fitness of emerging star Mathew Leckie, who injured his knee early in Friday’s 2-1 loss to Melbourne Victory at Etihad Stadium.
The Reds’ first loss of the season – and their tenth straight against Melbourne Victory – was soured even further by the possibility the talented 19-year-old, who had just returned from international duty with the Young Socceroos and was playing his first club game in over a month, could be out for an extended period after exiting after just 22 minutes.
Leckie and Melbourne’s Thai defender Surat Sukha had a coming together in the 15th minute when Sukha’s foot struck Leckie’s knee and the Reds’ striker failed to shake off the injury, eventually leaving the field after Melbourne had equalised.
He will have scans in the next few days to determine how long the injury is likely to keep him out for.
“We have to find out, it was nothing to do with the injury he had before the game,” Adelaide coach Rini Coolen said. “It is the same knee, but we have to find out over the next couple of days.”
“Leckie’s fast, maybe with some people too fast. It was a bad moment for him.”
The Victorian-born striker had shot to prominence early in this A-League season after scoring four goals in the space of five games. Out of contract at the end of the season, he has been linked with a move to Europe, with several German clubs said to be interested in his services.
However, any medium-term injury could put those prospects in jeopardy.
His delayed departure from the game following his injury could have cost Adelaide a goal, with the player initially wanting to come off, only for the Adelaide bench to show reluctance.
While Fabien Barbiero was ready to replace Leckie, Melbourne took a quick throw, preventing the change and allowing Leckie’s direct opponent Sukha, to play a major role in the lead-up to Robbie Kruse’s equalising goal.
Coolen was less than pleased at the referee’s failure to allow him to substitute the injured player and is confident the goal would not have been conceded had Barbiero been on the pitch.
“In this type of game, the details could have made the difference. We just lost Leckie in an important situation, I don’t think, they did it on purpose, but he was taken out of the game, so we had to play without him,” he said.
“Then we are ready for our substitutes. We had already made contact and had said that when the ball was out, we would be able to bring on our player. We were waiting for that moment, because I know that it’s important to have good organisation.”
“I spoke with the referee at half time and told me they took the decision to continue because they did it fast. I told them I wasn’t happy with that, that wasn’t fair. It was an important detail in the game.”
Coolen felt that incident reflected the lack of good fortune his side had in the key moments of the match.
“We started well and you know it will be a hard game here. Maybe it’s a fair result if you see the whole game. It’s all about important details at this level. We were not lucky in those moments.”
