Athletico’s top scorer this season has knee surgery

The attacker Gonzalo Mastrianido Athleticounderwent arthroscopy on his left knee this Tuesday (6), in Curitiba. The 31-year-old player is no longer playing this year and is expected to return to the pitch during next year’s State Championship.

On social media, Furacão wished the athlete a good recovery, who must do the recovery work separately at CT do Caju.

The team’s top scorer this season, Mastriani has scored 16 goals in 47 games for Athletico. Despite this, the goalscorer went through a two-month drought until his injury was confirmed at Rubro-Negro.

The last goal scored by him was in the 2-0 victory over Belgrano, in Argentina, which qualified the team for the quarter-finals of the Sul-Americana. The goal put the Mastriani as the greatest scorer in the history of the continental tournament.

Due to his bad form and knee pain, Mastriani lost space recently. To give you an idea, he started two of Furacão’s seven games since Lucho González took over as coach.

Even so, the Uruguayan joined the list of the greatest foreign scorers in Athletico’s history. He has the same number of goals as Argentine Marco Ruben, who became an idol and won the Copa do Brasil title in 2019.

Mastriani has never played as much as he did at Athletico

Individually, Mastriani achieved the second best performance of his career. The 16 goals scored are second only to the 23 scored in 2023, when he defended América-MG.

Furthermore, this was the season in which he took the field the most. There were 47 duels, above the 42 registered by América, in 2023, and Barcelona de Guyaquil, from Ecuador.

The numbers can serve as motivation for 2025. The player’s permanence is practically certain, as the bond between the parties lasts until the end of 2026. However, the expectation is that Mastriani will return in three or four months, during the Paranaense Championship .

Frustration remains for the campaign below

Mastriani arrived as a favorite among the red and black fans, mainly due to the soap opera that marked the striker’s arrival. For América-MG, Mastriani scored an incredible six goals in two games at the beginning of 2024.

After negotiations that had begun at the end of 2023, the Uruguayan was announced at the Ligga Arena at the end of January, in a transfer worth around US$2 million (around R$9.8 million, at the exchange rate at the time).

However, Mastriani’s drop in performance accompanied Athletico’s terrible campaign in the centenary year. In addition to the eliminations in the Copa do Brasil and Copa Sudamericana, the team collapsed in the Brasileirão and ended up having the worst sequence in the club’s history, with 11 games without winning.

Trying to remain in Series A, Furacão is preparing to visit São Paulo this coming Saturday (9), at 9pm, at the Morumbis stadium.