When he came on in the second half of Flamengo's victory over Corinthians last Sunday, Alex Sandro ended a 46-day period of absence from the rubro-negro's matches. The left-back had been suffering from pain in his right calf due to a case of tendinitis in the area.
During the week between the matches against Internacional (July 29) and Vitória (August 9), in the Brasileirão, the 35-year-old player complained of severe pain and underwent imaging tests. Even without an injury identified, the club's medical department had to adopt considerable caution to deal with a process that had some setbacks during recovery.
Alex Sandro had recently returned from the World Cup, where he didn't play any matches for the Brazilian national team, but was subjected to a very different training load. In the interpretation of members of Flamengo's medical department, the effects of the international tournament interfered with the physical problem that followed.
