ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - St. Louis City SC announced Monday midfielder Celio Pompeu went surgery Sunday to repair an ankle dislocation and fibula fracture and will unsurprisingly miss the rest of the season.
City SC say Pompeu will need at least a nine-month rehabilitation before returning to competition. Pompeu suffered a scary injury in the first half of City SC's eventual 2-0 loss to FC Dallas following a collision with a Dallas defender. Pompeu remained down for around seven minutes before he was taken off the field.
Pompeu absence on the pitch is a big loss for City SC. Pompeu has had a terrific season with City prior to the surgery, starting a career-high 15 matches with three goals, three assists and 1,246 minutes played this season.
Pompeu wasn't the only loss as City SC also has to deal with the loss of defender Joakim Nilsson, who was injured in the first half of Saturday's loss to Dallas with an apparent hamstring injury.
City SC Bradley Carnell joined Total Information A.M. to discuss the injuries, saying the loss of Pompeu and Nilsson has hit the club pretty hard.
"I haven't and will not re-watch it back," said Carnell. "These are the types of things we don't wish on anybody, because it just excruciating pain. There's an effect that lingers on there and our thoughts are with him and Joakim (Nilsson)."
Carnell say loss of both players will be huge, but says it is just another part of the story with the team and they will need to grow from it.
"Out of these moments where we are challenged as a group, these just drive us to sort of new ways, new ideas, potential new moments and opportunities," said Carnell. "Although the tunnel seems far away from seeing the light, we have to focus on the light at the end of the tunnel and there's so many little steps in between that we have to counter, endure and accomplish to get through to the other side. This is a battle and a real emotional uphill rollercoaster right now we have to find and comes to terms with very very quickly."