Serie A: AC Milan's Lucas Biglia suffers 'severe' back injury, faces race against time to be fit for World Cup

Milan: Argentina midfielder Lucas Biglia has suffered a back injury, his club AC Milan said on Sunday, which appears to have put his participation at the World Cup in serious doubt. [caption id=“attachment_4442575” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Lucas Biglia. Reuters[/caption] Milan said in a statement that Biglia had suffered “a severe lumbar trauma” following an injury during Saturday’s 1-0 Serie A defeat against Benevento. “The player has undergone medical examinations that highlighted a fracture of the transverse processes of the first two lumbar vertebrae,” said the club in a statement. “A detailed prognosis will be issued in the coming days upon completion of all medical tests.” According to specialist websites, a fracture of the transverse process is a relatively rare injury that takes four to six weeks to heal but usually requires a further month’s recovery time afterwards. Argentina’s first World Cup match is against Iceland on 16 June. Biglia started the quarter-final, semi-final and final of Argentina’s campaign in the 2014 World Cup where they finished as runners-up to Germany. The 32-year-old has been a regular since then and played in most of their 18-match qualifying campaign.