Wilfried Zaha could miss ’s upcoming fixtures, including the semi-final against , after picking up a serious injury on international duty.
The winger was left out of the Ivory Coast squad for last night’s friendly with England, which the Three Lions won 3-0, with his national team manager Patrice Beaumelle revealing that the 29-year-old has a grade one or two strain on his hamstring.
‘After the first game [against France], he felt some pain behind in the hamstring,’ said Beaumelle.
‘We don’t have to take any risks because if it gets worse it is maybe six weeks or two months out. Imagine we put him in and after five minutes…for what? And it was an opportunity for other players to play as a team, but of course I would have liked him to play with the Elephants.’
Missing out on a game at Wembley will have been a bitter blow for Zaha who earned two caps for England before switching his allegiance to the country of his birth in 2017 after years of being overlooked by the Three Lions.
‘For me he should have played this game for him,’ Beaumelle added.
‘It was a dream to play against England, playing in Wembley, London. He was so sad because he wanted to play. This is football.’
But attention now turns to club football and if this injury is as serious as feared, Zaha is now a major doubt for Palace’s important Premier League games against Arsenal and Leicester City, as well as the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on 17th April.
The Eagles, currently 12th in the table, are looking to finish in the top-half of the top-flight for the first time since 2015 and are aiming to reach only their third ever FA Cup final.
Zaha was part of the Palace side that lost to Manchester United in the 2016 final and will no doubt be desperate to help his boyhood club go all the way.
His injury could not have come at a worse time then, and Palace boss Patrick Vieira is now potentially without two of his star players after winger Michel Olise picked up a foot injury while playing for France U21s last week.
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