Cristian Volpato suffered the unfortunate setback of limping from the pitch in the first half of Sassuolo’s 2-2 draw at Bologna in Serie A, while another Socceroos World Cup star endured a tough day out in France.
Volpato reportedly was holding his hamstring as he was substituted off in the 37th minute, but the extent of the injury is unknown until he has scans in the coming days.
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Socceroos boss Tony Popovic will be hoping the injury is nothing major ahead of January’s Asian Cup, while Sassuolo will be sweating on the outcome too given Volpato’s impressive start to the season in Italy’s top flight.
The 22-year-old winger has become a regular starter off the back of his eye-catching World Cup campaign and scored a superb goal from outside the box in last week’s 2-1 win against Torino.
Meanwhile, Patrick Beach’s ES Troyes’ unbeaten run came to a crushing end as they were thrashed 6-2 at home to Strasbourg.
Beach were peppered between the sticks as visitors registered 13 shots on target for six goals to hand Troyes their first loss of the Ligue 1 season.
Beach’s fellow goalkeeper Mat Ryan had a better day out in Spain as the veteran shot stopper saved a penalty in Levante’s 0-0 draw Malaga to take their La Liga record for five points from four matches.
There tough outings too for Paul Okon-Engslter in the Bundesliga as Koln were beaten 4-1 at VfB Stuttgart, while Harry Souttar’s Leicester City slumped to 17th in League One with a 4-0 defeat at home to Oxford Utd.
There was good news elsewhere for the Australians, however, with Mohamed Toure again getting his name on the sheet for Norwich in their 3-1 win at Sheffield United on Saturday.
Alessandro Circati made his debut for Portuguese giants Benfica as a substitute, while Nestory Irankunda played his most minutes yet off the bench for fellow Lisbon club Sporting CP.
Lucas Herrington also played a pivotal role as a substitute as Hull City kept a clean sheet for a third straight outing to start their Premier League return.