Patrice Beaumelle has confirmed that Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha missed Ivory Coast’s 3-0 loss against England after picking up a hamstring injury.
The Elephants manager says that the 29-year-old picked the injury up in the 2-1 loss against France.
If Zaha has suffered a grade two hamstring injury, then he would be a serious doubt for the Eagles’ FA Cup semi-final clash against Chelsea in mid-April along with Monday night’s home game against Arsenal.
The 29-year-old has scored 10 goals in all competitions this season for Palace but was not named in the Ivory Coast squad for Tuesday’s friendly.
“After the first game, he felt something painful behind the hamstring,” said Beaumelle when asked about Zaha’s absence.
“Because we flew [to England] the following day after the game against France, when we arrived, as he [Zaha] is from here, it was quite easy for us to get an x-ray – and he had a grade one or two on the hamstring.
“He was sad, me as well, because, for me, he should have played this game. For him, it was a dream to play England.
“This is football, and I have to understand as well that players have a busy schedule, and we can’t take any risks.
“With hamstrings, if it is bad, then it’s six weeks or maybe two months – we could not take any risks. Unfortunately for me, for him and for the squad.”
When asked to clarify whether Zaha was injured or whether Beaumelle did not want to take any risks with the forward, he said: “He is injured. On the hamstring, when you have a grade two, that for me is an injury.
“Today, I released him to go and have some treatment and care with his physio at the club.
“I asked him to come with the team for the game – he was so sad because he wanted to play.
“He is a very fast player – he needs his hamstring to play his game. I would have loved him to have played tonight with the Elephants.”