Valencia’s Vicente was injured in last night’s defeat to Werder Bremen, another blow for Claudio Ranieri’s side, which has already been ravaged by injury.
Club doctors have ruled out Vicente for two weeks. The young winger put Valencia into the lead after less than two minutes chipping Bremen keeper Andreas Reinke, following a mistake from Champions League debutante Christian Schulz.
Carlos Marchena’s dismissal early in the second half allowed the German champions back into the game with goals from Miroslav Klose and Greece’s Euro 2004 hero Angelos Charisteas wrapping up the points for Werder Bremen.
“In the first half we could have decided the game, because when you have goal chances it is important to guess right.” said Valencia boss Claudio Ranieri.
“Later with one less it was more difficult and Werder has played very well. It has been a pity because the first half had been very, very good.”
“The players are not happy. But losing here can happen, because they are the champions of Germany, they are a great team and I already knew that.”
Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf was pleased with the result.
“We managed to come back into the game and were rewarded for our courage,” said Schaaf.
“We wanted a victory tonight and got one.
Schaaf also took the opportunity to commend his star striker who returned to the side after a late battle with injury.
“Charisteas took his chance to shine well – he scored one and might have headed a second.”
Fabian Ernst summed up the mood in the Bremen camp.
“We deserved the win because we showed more passion, the crowd got right behind us and we are back in business in our group in a big way,” he said.
