Chukwueze is down with a thigh injury may the miss 2026 World Cup qualifying matches in June

Super Eagles forward Samuel Chukwueze was replaced at half-time during Sunday night’s win against Cagliari and it has emerged that it was not just a simple tactical change.

The extent of the injury which will be made public during the week will determine if he called for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches between the Eagles and South Africa and Benin Republic.

There was a rather surprising triple change at the break as Chukwueze came off having looked in some trouble a few minutes before the end of the first half, as well as Matteo Gabbia and Olivier Giroud. Rafael Leao, Fikayo Tomori, and Noah Okafor took their place.

According to what is being reported by MilanNews, Chukwueze was the only ‘bad note’ of the night for Milan because he was forced off during the interval due to a physical problem. More specifically, the winger felt discomfort in his left thigh and thus was withdrawn.

He will likely undergo checks in the next 24-48 hours to understand the extent of the issue, but given there are only two games left it cannot be ruled out that he might have played his last game of the season if it is a strain.

In the end, Milan would unload on Cagliari in the second half with Leao getting a goal and an assist while Christian Pulisic got a brace and Tijjani Reijnders also scored in an eventual 5-1 win.