The Union’s José Andrés Martínez is recovering from a hamstring injury, but not ready to play yet

The Union’s stalwart defensive midfielder José Andrés Martínez is almost certain to remain sidelined for Saturday’s game at the rival New York Red Bulls, manager Jim Curtin said Thursday.

Martínez tweaked a hamstring in the first game of the Union’s Concacaf Champions League series against Los Angeles FC last Tuesday at Subaru Park. LAFC won the series, 4-1, on aggregate, and all four of its goals — one late in the first game and three at home on Wednesday — came without Martínez on the field.

“We’ll call it a grade one-and-a-half to two on the on the hamstring,” Curtin said in a news conference after the Union’s morning practice session, which Martínez spent in the gym instead of on the field. “But he’s healing quickly. It’s not one of these situations where he’ll be out for several more weeks or anything like that.”

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Curtin didn’t want to put a specific timeline out there, but he did say Martínez being ready for Saturday would be “a tough ask.”

“He’s working hard to get back in the team as quickly as possible, but certainly a player that we need on the field — and one that we need at his maximum,” Curtin said. “And right now, because of the little injury, he’s not at his max. I don’t want even speculate on two weeks, a week and a half, one week.”

Curtin stressed that the Union would not rush Martínez back, between the nature of the injury and the fact that Saturday’s game is the second of eight games on the schedule this month. Had the Union reached the Champions League final, the number would have grown to nine, and the May 31 home game vs. Charlotte would have been rescheduled.

“Unfortunately, it’s a perfect José type game [Saturday],” Curtin said, referring to the Red Bulls’ high-pressing style that’s similar to the Union’s. “But It’s going to be tough to turn it around that quick, and we have to be smart, too … You see what May brings, and if we think it’s been busy previously, it’s going to get really busy now.”

» READ MORE: Union vs. LAFC is a ‘healthy’ rivalry, Jim Curtin says, but it’s been one-sided in big games

Leon Flach will likely start Saturday, and Curtin will once again have to decide whether to account for Flach’s attacking limitations by changing the lineup elsewhere. But Flach won’t be able to play all the upcoming games. If the Union are to climb back up the standings soon, Curtin will have to give backups Andrés Perea and Jesús Bueno more playing time than usual.

“Sometimes as coaches, we get decisions right, sometimes we get them wrong,” Curtin said. “Every guy is going to have a real opportunity now to show us, because [with the] numbers and games and volume of minutes that are coming up, everybody’s going to get an opportunity.”