France’s World Cup semifinal against Spain took a worrying turn for Arsenal fans watching in Arlington, Texas. William Saliba, the Gunners’ star center-back, limped off the field clutching his lower back just past the half-hour mark. He was replaced by Crystal Palace’s Maxence Lacroix, and France went into the break trailing 1-0.
The play that knocked Saliba out wasn’t a collision or a nasty tackle. He simply went down while in possession, grabbing at his back, and it was clear pretty quickly he wasn’t coming back. Didier Deschamps sent Lacroix to warm up almost immediately after the medical staff ran onto the field.
This isn’t a fresh injury, at least not entirely. Saliba admitted before France’s group stage opener against Iraq that he’s been playing through a back problem for months. He said he’d been gritting his teeth through the end of the Premier League season and the Champions League, and he wasn’t about to stop for a World Cup that comes around once every four years. “I’m not at 100 percent,” he told reporters. “But there are plenty of players who aren’t at 100 percent either. You can’t make excuses.”
The timing is brutal for Arsenal. Mikel Arteta’s squad is already thin at center-back after selling someone in the summer window, and now their best defender heads into the offseason with a balky back that forced him out of a World Cup semifinal. The club has not commented on the severity, but France’s medical staff didn’t seem optimistic about him returning for a potential final or third-place game.
Spain took the lead thanks to a Mikel Oyarzabal penalty after Lucas Digne kicked Lamine Yamal in the box. Digne misjudged a high ball and just swung through the teenager’s leg. Clear penalty. VAR didn’t even need a long look.
This is the second time in this tournament Saliba’s back has been a talking point. He’d managed to get through the quarterfinal without a setback, but the semifinal pressure and the heat in Texas might have pushed his body past the limit. For a guy who played through Champions League knockout rounds and a Premier League title race on one good back, it’s a brutal way to see his summer end.
France now has to figure out how to beat Spain without their best center-back. And Arsenal has to figure out how to start next season without knowing if their guy can stay healthy. Both problems are real.
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