Both Gareth Southgate and Steve Clarke will be hoping to have key defenders available for Friday’s night huge match between England and Scotland at Wembley.
England coped well without Harry Maguire on Sunday, beating Croatia 1-0 in their opening match courtesy of Raheem Sterling’s second-half strike.
The opposite was true for Scotland, as they badly missed Kieran Tierney in their 2-0 defeat to the Czech Republic at Hampden. Not that the Arsenal man would have made much difference to Patrik Schick’s wonder-goal from the halfway line…
A number of important players either missed their country’s first games of Euro 2020 due to knocks or else picked up injuries during them. Thankfully, Christian Eriksen is recovering in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest during Denmark’s defeat to Finland.
Here is the latest injury news ahead of matchday two of the European Championship.
Harry Maguire (England)
Both John Stones and Tyrone Mings impressed in the heart of England’s defence at the weekend.
Gareth Southgate will be eager to have Maguire fit and available soon, though, due to his experience and leadership qualities at the back.
Maguire suffered an ankle injury in May which forced him to miss Manchester United’s final five fixtures of the 2020-21 campaign, but he has come through six successive England training issues unscathed.
It remains to be seen at this stage whether or not he will be fit enough to play against Scotland on Friday night.
Kieran Tierney (Scotland)
Tierney was a surprise absentee from the Scotland teamsheet for their match against the Czech Republic.
The Arsenal left-back, who has endured an injury-disrupted couple of campaigns in north London since signing from Celtic in 2019, was ruled out with a calf problem.
Clarke will be desperate to have him available for the visit to Wembley on Friday with Scotland’s hopes of reaching the round of 16 hanging in the balance.
“He’s got a chance,” said Clarke. “He did a little bit of light training today [Tuesday] and we’ll see how he progresses.”
Jack Grealish (England)
Jack Grealish was an unused substitute in England’s first game and was then a notable absentee from their training session on Tuesday.
However, it seems as though England are simply being careful with Grealish’s workload given he has played a full 90 minutes twice since the beginning of February.
“We risk breaking him,” Southgate said of Grealish before the tournament. “We can’t overload him, so we’ve got to manage that really correctly for his welfare, as well as for performance.
“[He] is not able to train on consecutive days for example, and he hasn’t had a high training load going into those matches.”
Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)
Belgium blew Russia away in their opening match, winning 3-0 and that result was all the more impressive given they were without both Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne from the start.
Hazard came on for the final 18 minutes and is expected to feature more prominently in the second game against Denmark, but it is unclear whether or not De Bruyne will start.
The 29-year-old suffered a nasty double fracture to his face during Manchester City’s 1-0 defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League final and Roberto Martinez was coy over his involvement in matchday two.
“Kevin has played at a very high level all year, so I think the same can be expected now that he is back,” Martinez said.
Matthijs De Ligt (Netherlands)
The Netherlands were without Matthijs De Ligt for their helter-skelter match against Ukraine and they missed his presence at the back after squandering a two-goal lead only to recover and win 3-2.
De Ligt had sustained a groin injury in the build-up to game, forcing Frank de Boer to start the 19-year-old Ajax defender Jurrien Timber instead.
However, De Ligt returned to full training on Monday, raising the prospects of him starting in his nation’s second match of the Euros against Austria on Thursday.
Alessandro Florenzi (Italy)
Italy’s marauding right back Alessandro Florenzi impressed during the first half of Italy’s 3-0 win over Turkey in the opening game of Euro 2020 last Friday but had to come off at half-time with a calf issue.
He was replaced by Napoli’s Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Roberto Mancini has confirmed that either he or Atalanta’s versatile Rafael Toloi will replace Florenzi against Switzerland if he is unable to feature.
“Whether Di Lorenzo or Toloi start, it wouldn’t change too much, even if Giovanni is a more attacking player,” Mancini said. “Maybe that’s the one doubt – there’s still another two training sessions to go.”
Sergio Busquets (Spain)
Appointed Spain’s captain for the tournament following Sergio Ramos’ high-profile omission, Sergio Busquets’ hopes of leading his country looked to be in jeopardy when he tested positive for Covid-19.
Busquets missed Spain’s 0-0 draw against Sweden following a period of self-isolation and seems unlikely to feature in the second match against Poland, judging by Luis Enrique’s most recent comments.
“He has the advantage that he was the first player to test positive (for Covid-19) and there’s still time,” he said. “I’m certain he’ll remain in the squad. He was asymptomatic and able to train at home and stay fit.”
More from i on Euro 2020
- In praise of Emma Hayes, the best pundit at Euro 2020 so far
- Eriksen collapse has thrown a spotlight on football’s relentless thirst for more
- ‘Yorkshire Pirlo’ showing he has perfect blend of silk and steel to be a star
- Where Schick’s strike against Scotland ranks among greatest Euros goals
- How to watch every Euro 2020 match on TV and online in the UK
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3xortzw
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