Higuain, Bernardeschi blow for Juventus in bruising derby win

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February 18, 2018 9:10 PM

Argentinian striker Higuain suffered "a sprain and bruising of his left ankle," the team said, with Bernardeschi having ligament damage which could rule him out for up to five weeks.

Juventus top scorer Gonzalo Higuain suffered a sprained ankle while winger Federico Bernardeschi took a knock to his left knee in Sundays bruising 1-0 derby win over Torino.

"For both players, further tests are planned in the coming days," Juventus said in a statement.

Higuain has scored 24 times this season for the champions including a double in the first nine minutes of last Tuesday's Champions League last 16 first leg tie against Tottenham in Turin before the English club forced a 2-2 draw.

The 30-year-old pulled up three minutes into the game at Torino following a clash with rival goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu.

He continued on for another 12 minutes before being replaced by Bernardeschi, who set up Brazilian Alex Sandro to score the only goal on 33 minutes.

Bernardeschi, 24, then went off injured late in the second half.

Higuain will likely miss next weekend's Serie A tie against Atalanta, while Bernardeschi could face a longer time sidelined, ruling him out of the Champions League return leg at Wembley on March 7.

Juventus -- second in the league table one point behind Napoli -- already have a long injury list with Mario Mandzukic, Blaise Matuidi and Juan Cuadrado recovering but there was good news with Argentine Paulo Dybala making his comeback from a hamstring injury in the second half and playing half an hour.

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