The striker had to be stretchered off in the draw with Inter due to an ankle knock, with Rafa Benitez admitting he is a doubt for the Coppa Italia final

Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain is a doubt for the remainder of the season after picking up a potentially troubling ankle injury in their 0-0 draw at Inter on Saturday.

Marco Andreolli leapt to block one of the 26-year-old’s efforts late in the stalemate at San Siro and Higuain’s shooting foot collided with the Nerazzurri player’s lower leg, causing obvious pain for Higuain.

The Argentina international needed to be stretchered off the pitch, casting doubt on whether he will feature again for Napoli again this season.

There were initial fears that he might not be able to recover in time for the World Cup this summer, however, reports coming out of Italy suggest nothing is broken and the former Real Madrid frontman just picked up a minor sprain.

“Gonzalo Higuain has a trauma to the right ankle, which will be evaluated over the next few days,” the club said in a statement.

Rafa Benitez was pessimistic about his star striker’s chances of being fit in time to face Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia final in a week’s time, while insisting his players went all-out for victory as they edge towards a guaranteed third-place finish in Serie A.

“Higuain had trauma to the ankle, a bruise, and we’ll have to see over the next few days. We still don’t know what the situation is,” the Spaniard told Sky Sport.

“I think my team played to win, we had a lot of possession against a very strong side that has played only one game per week since the start of the season.

“We pushed hard and I think against them it was a good result, though we could also have won tonight.”