SALT LAKE CITY – Real Salt Lake will be without its fearless leader Damir Kreilach for the foreseeable future after the 2021 MLS All-Star successfully underwent back surgery in Los Angeles this morning, manager Pablo Mastroeni said on The Bill Riley Show today.

“Dami underwent successful surgery this morning and it was great news, so now he starts his recovery back to full form and hopefully he will be back sooner than later,” Mastroeni told Bill Riley. “It is a huge spectrum, typically it is about 3 months which is the best-case scenario,” Mastroeni said when asked what the timeframe on his return looks like.

Kreilach, 33, has been dealing with injury throughout the entire 2022 campaign. In preseason while in Arizona, Kreilach suffered a calf strain that hindered his preseason routine. Then, on April 17 against New York City F.C he pinched a nerve in his back that has seen him sidelined ever since. The injury occurred in the midst of the game and Kreilach continued to play despite the pain.

Tough news for #RSL, with Damir Kreilach out indefinitely https://t.co/iOsCzdCnGw

— Pro Soccer Wire (@prosoccerwire) June 2, 2022

Since April 17, Kreilach has been sidelined and has not been participating in training with the team. Rather, he has been rehabbing his injured back with the hope of returning. However, last week Kreilach flew to Los Angeles to speak with a specialist where he was told that it would be in his best interest to go under the knife.

Now, Kreilach will remain in a Los Angeles hospital for up to a week to ensure his recovery goes to plan before returning to Utah and rehabbing with the Real Salt Lake medical staff.

Mastroeni also admitted that the best case scenario with this particular injury is around 3 months, but has not put any timeframe on Kreilach’s return as he does not want to put any pressure on his captain.

The good news is that Mastroeni also admitted that Erik Holt has returned from plantar fasciitis and that Anderson Julio has trained with the main group this week after recovering from a slight hamstring strain. Julio will travel with the team tomorrow to Vancouver, Mastroeni confessed.

Next Match

Real Salt Lake will travel to Vancouver next Saturday, June 4, with kickoff scheduled for 5 p.m.

As always, the fixture will be available to stream for free via the KSL Sports and KSL 5 TV app or on KSL Sports dot com.