ANTE BUDIMIR, striker of Osasuna and the Croatian national team, received great recognition for a great season in La Liga. The scorer of 16 league goals was nominated for the ideal team of the season of the Spanish Primera. Apart from him, among the forwards nominated are Vinicius, Morata, Williams, Griezmann, Gerard, Lino, Rioja, Lewandowski, Greenwood, Mayoral, Williams, Kubo, Dovbik, Savio, En-Nesyri, Duro, Yamal and Rodrygo.
You can vote for the Croatian national team player at this link, and there you can also see the nominees for other positions in the team. Five rounds before the end of the championship, Budimir shares third place with Lewandowski, behind Dovbyk (19) and Sorloth (17) and Bellingham (17). But he probably would have placed even better if he had not missed the last two games due to a serious injury.
Three weeks ago, in the best season of his career, he experienced a nightmare game, and at the worst moment
Budimir (32) experienced a nightmare match three weeks ago in the best season of his career, and at the worst moment. Osasuna’s striker and then the second best scorer won a penalty in stoppage time of the match of the 31st round against Valencia, when the opponent was leading 1:0.
But he performed it comically clumsily. His unsuccessful panenka ended only in an attempt made impossible by the fact that Budimir tripped over his leg and instead of sending a shot, he practically passed the ball to the opponent’s goalkeeper. The video of Budimir’s miss is of course viral, and television and social media commentators declared it “the worst penalty ever”.
Budimir thus left Osasuna without an important point in the fight for Europe seven rounds before the end, but late last night his club revealed that this is still the smallest problem for him. Namely, at 2:00 am, Osasuna announced that the striker, who scored as many goals as Bellingham this season in La Liga and who is more efficient than Griezmann, Lewandowski and Vinicius, suffered a serious injury against Valencia.
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“Immediately after the match, Ante Budimir was taken to the University Hospital in Navarre. Tests showed that he suffered serious trauma in the chest area. More precisely, he broke three ribs. He received painkillers. He will spend the night in the hospital, and on Tuesday he will be subjected to additional searches.”
After very bad news came great news
This was very bad news not only for Osasuna but also for the Croatian national team. Budimir is by far the most effective striker of Zlatko Dalić, and what’s more, in one of the world’s strongest leagues. And then he was seriously injured just two months before Croatia’s first match at the Euros, on June 15 against Spain. In the fall, Budimir scored a goal to win over Latvia in the last round of qualification and allowed Croatia to go directly to the European Championship.
However, a couple of days later great news arrived. Budimir is recovering very well and the new forecasts are far more optimistic. According to them, Budimir could play already at the end of this month. If these forecasts turn out to be correct, not only would Budimir be ready for the European Championship in June, but he would also come to the preparations in a competitive rhythm because after recovery he would play one or two, and maybe even three games in the Spanish championship.
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