Real Sociedad winger Ander Barrenetxea had surgery in Madrid on Friday, and the medical report the club released afterward could have been copied from January 2022. Dr. Lasse Lempainen, the Finnish surgeon who operated on him last time, again used open surgery to perform "an anatomic reconstruction of the origin of the hamstring muscles," this time on the right leg instead of the left. The last time Barrenetxea went through this, he was out for seven months.

What happened against Rayo

The injury came in Sunday's 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano at Anoeta. According to Basque outlet Naiz, as cited by TWN, it occured about a minute after Barrenetxea set up Orri Óskarsson's goal. It was his second assist for Óskarsson in back-to-back matches, after another against Lyon in the Europa League, per Football Presse.

On Wednesday the club described it as a "severe injury, with tendon involvement," at the proximal end of the hamstring in his right thigh. The surgery took place Friday morning at the Vithas Madrid Aravaca university hospital, and Real Sociedad said it went "satisfactorily, without incident." The club has not given a return date.

The 2022 precedent

El Diario Vasco laid out how the first one went. Barrenetxea tore his left hamstring five minutes into a game at Alavés on Jan. 2, 2022. Lempainen operated on him in Finland nine days later with the same kind of reconstruction, and he didn't play again until July 30 in a preseason game at Bournemouth, seven months after the injury.

In an interview with Marca, Lempainen has said that a top-level player with a serious hamstring injury needs "between four and six months" to compete at the highest level again. El Diario Vasco and Mundo Deportivo put Barrenetxea's expected absence at five to six months, or longer based on his own history, which would take him to April or May at the earliest.

What it costs Matarazzo

Pellegrino Matarazzo, the New Jersey-born Real Sociedad coach, loses one of his most-used attackers. Barrenetxea had played in 11 of Real Sociedad's 12 LaLiga games, starting eight, and three of their four Europa League games. His form had earned him a call-up to Luis de la Fuente's Spain squad for this window, which he had to withdraw from.

The 24-year-old is likely done for most, if not all, of the season. Real Sociedad have already been through this exact recovery with him once, and that time it took seven months.