Patrick Dorgu is the latest injury concern at Manchester United (Picture: Shutterstock)
Manchester United’s Patrick Dorgu will return to the club after limping out of Denmark’s win over Wales in the Nations League on Sunday.
The 21-year-old started the 2-0 win for the Danes in Copenhagen but lasted just 30 minutes before going down and being substituted.
It was a non-contact injury and Dorgu appeared to be feeling at his hamstring as he sat on the turf.
The severity of the injury is not yet clear, but there will be great concern for the versatile full-back and winger who missed a substantial amount of last season due to a hamstring problem.
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Dorgu sat out from late January to late April with the injury and will be desperate to avoid a similar absence due to the latest problem.
Denmark manager Brian Riemer was left very frustrated by the ‘annoying’ situation as Dorgu and Hamburg’s Albert Grønbæk are now both unavailable due to injuries.
‘I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’d like to be allowed to say that. And now another one went today – also a good one,’ said Riemer.
Dorgu went down without any contact, sparking concerns (Picture: Shutterstock)
‘I counted up, and that was seven or eight players before today who would normally always be in a squad of 23. They’re not here. They’ve either gone home or never came at all.
‘And now Dorgu went out today. And it’s just really annoying to be honest.
‘I have to call up one more winger. It’s easy to find a player who can be a winger, a full-back or something else, but it’s even harder to find someone who can cover more positions.
‘So it’s going to be a bit of a headache for me. I have to figure out whether we should call up one or two.’
Manchester United are next in action on October 10 against Tottenham, but Dorgu’s involvement is now in serious doubt.
He will also be disappointed to miss Denmark’s meeting with Portugal on Thursday and another clash with Wales on Sunday.
Bruno Fernandes missed Portugal’s game against Norway on Sunday (Picture: Getty Images)
However, manager Jorge Jesus suggested he would be back for the meeting with Denmark this week.
‘He played with an injury he brought from Manchester United. He really wanted to play against Wales,’ Jesus said on Saturday. He wasn’t at his usual level, we’ll see if he’s ready.
‘He said he’s been dealing with that pain for about three games, and that was one of the factors that prevented him from being at his usual level against Wales.
‘He was my player [at Sporting], I know him perfectly. I’ve already spoken to him. I prefer not to risk him in this game and have him clean and in good physical condition for the Denmark game.’
Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo both pulled out of the England squad during this international break, although their issues are not thought to be serious.
Thomas Tuchel does not have much sympathy for club bosses (Picture: Getty Images)
England manager Thomas Tuchel says he does not take calls from Premier League bosses who are hoping he rests their players, saying it would be ‘madness’ to do so.
The new-look international schedule this season sees the Three Lions play four matches in this current break from Premier League action.
They began with defeat to Spain on Saturday, then play Czech Republic on Tuesday, before taking on Croatia this coming Saturday and the Czechs again next Tuesday.
It is a busy time and comes after a long World Cup over the summer, which saw pre-seasons cut short and players starting their league campaigns with little rest.
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Understandably there will be plenty of club managers hoping that their players are not involved in all four games over the international break, but Tuchel says their feelings are not his concern.
The former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss says he never contacted an international manager to make a request for a player and he does not intend to take any calls in his current position.
‘I don’t take calls from Premier League managers. I never called any national team coach. It is what it is,’ said the England boss.
Harry Kane rarely misses an England game (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I cannot manage the players. It’s just impossible. I knew as a club coach, when I was on the other side, that I had this example many times.
‘If I would call a coach in Brazil or Argentina, they would not know what I am talking about. The players would not know what I am talking about.
‘So why would I do this and start giving the players the impression that it’s okay to take a step back or share a half or to rest one match? Why would I? I would never. It’s madness. We want to win the next match.’
There were a number of withdrawals from Tuchel’s squad for this set of Nations League matches, with the manager warning those that miss a lot of international action, that their chances of returning will diminish.
Cole Palmer was left out of the World Cup squad over the summer and pulled out of the current squad, with Tuchel saying the Chelsea star has missed an opportunity.
Cole Palmer has started the season in good form but pulled out of the England squad (Picture: REUTERS)
‘For sure it’s a missed opportunity,’ said Tuchel. ‘It’s another missed opportunity. He misses too many opportunities, and I don’t blame him for it. It’s just the fact. He misses way too many camps with injuries and I only want to rely on what I personally witness and what I see within my team, and for that you have to be in camp.
‘If you’re not in camp, there’s a next level to impress that you cannot achieve because you only can do it when you’re actually with me on the pitch and with us on the pitch so, yeah, it is a missed opportunity.
‘My understanding is that he plays with discomfort and pain, and he cannot compete on the highest level with discomfort and pain, so he withdrew and informed us and Chelsea informed us. That is my that is my understanding.’
Norway and Arsenal star Martin Odegaard was visibly struggling after the late tackle from Bernardo Silva (Picture: Reuters)
An irate Martin Odegaard was seen hobbling out of the stadium after he was on the receiving end of a woeful challenge from Bernardo Silva in Norway’s 2-1 defeat to Portugal.
Joao Felix and Goncalo Ramos scored either side of Erling Haaland’s 51st-minute strike to maintain Portugal’s 100 per cent record in this year’s Nations League on Sunday night.
Having beaten Wales 1-0 in their opening clash, the Portuguese sit top of Group A4 ahead of their trip to Copenhagen to lock horns with Denmark on Thursday.
However, much of the talk after Portugal’s latest victory surrounded Silva’s poorly timed tackle on Arsenal captain Odegaard in the dying moments of stoppage time at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadium.
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After picking up possession deep inside Norway’s half, Odegaard found Andreas Schjelderup from the edge of his own penalty area before taking a nasty blow to the ankle from former Manchester City midfielder Silva.
Silva, who joined Real Madrid in the summer, played on as if nothing had happened, but Norway’s skipper was visibly livid with the late challenge, appearing to mouth, ‘F*** you!’ to his opposite number when they came face to face.
The usually calm and collected Odegaard continued his furious protestations long after the incident and it was clear he was struggling as the minutes ticked down in the Norwegian capital.
Odegaard was later seen limping his way through the mixed zone towards the home team’s coach, pictures that will no doubt be a concern to fans of both Norway and Arsenal.
‘He just kicked me down long after I had played the ball away,’ Odegaard told Norwegian television channel TV2 when asked about the incident.
‘I didn’t understand what he was talking about.’
He continued: ‘It doesn’t belong on a football field. It’s a shame that people do that.’
Asked what he had said to Silva in the immediate aftermath, Odegaard tellingly replied: ‘I don’t think we should do that on TV.’
He later added: ‘I got a knock on my ankle. It probably won’t be good tonight.
‘But I’m betting it will be fine in the next few days.’
Norway defender Leo Ostigard was similarly unimpressed with the ‘ugly’ challenge, which he suggested ‘looked quite deliberate’ from where he was standing.
‘It’s very late. When you see it afterwards on video, it’s very ugly,’ he told reporters.
Ramos scored what proved to be the decisive goal in Oslo (Picture: Ane Frosaker/SPP/Shutterstock)
Haaland and Co will look to return to winning ways against Wales in midweek (Picture: Getty)
‘It could well have been red. It’s terribly ugly. It’s just terribly bad.’
The centre-back, who plays his club football for Genoa in Italy, added: ‘These are the kinds of things we don’t want happening to our captain.
‘When it comes so long after, it looks quite deliberate.
‘Last year he was unlucky with a lot of injuries and he can’t do anything about those things.
‘They’re going to take him because he’s got the ball a lot in the middle there. Of course they’re frustrated, but you can’t do that.’
🎥 Bernardo Silva’s response when asked what Martin Ødegaard said to him after the tackle:
Silva appeared less than sympathetic when asked about Odegaard’s reaction to the tackle in the mixed zone, bluntly responding: ‘It’s football, my friend.’
Arsenal supporters were, unsurprisingly, angry and upset with Silva’s tackle and post-match remarks, with one fan account on X writing: This coward has been part of a cheating culture his whole career. Have you ever seen Odegaard like this?’
Arsenal reporter Charles Watts, meanwhile, tweeted: ‘You never see Odegaard this angry.
‘He knows full well Bernardo has gone out purely to hurt him. Understandably furious.’
Odegaard will hope to shake off any injury concerns ahead of Norway’s next Nations League contest away to Wales on Thursday.
Stale Solbakken’s men have picked up three points from their first two matches after defeating Denmark 3-2 in their opening encounter.
Rodri’s comments did not sit well with Roy Keane (Picture: ITV)
Roy Keane was not on board with former Manchester City star Rodri after the midfielder insisted the club deserved all its success and it cannot be taken from them.
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Rodri, who won four Premier League titles with Manchester City from 2021-24, captained Spain against England at Wembley on Saturday and gave his view on the situation.
‘What we did, they cannot take out of us. It’s something that is not paid by money. It’s paid with effort, with partnership, with, being shoulder-to-shoulder every day,’ he said in a pre-match press conference.
‘We had a lot of success and I can tell you that everything was deserved, and I’m glad that I could live one of the best eras of English football in here.
Rodri is still backing his former club, having left for Barcelona in the summer (Picture: Shutterstock)
‘Everyone has to follow the rules, that’s great and they always express the confidence that they never did something wrong, and we believe in that.’
Former Manchester United captain, Keane, did not echo those sentiments and feels Manchester City now need to take their punishment, if indeed the guilty verdict stands.
‘It’s about time. It has obviously been going on a long time now,’ Keane said on ITV. ‘I certainly would disagree with Rodri’s messages there. It was their choice, the club. They chose to cheat.
‘Whatever they have won over the last few years, they deserve to be punished. Where we start and finish with that obviously is difficult but they were cheating. They’ve been found guilty of it and they have to take their medicine now.
‘It was a shock to be found guilty of, is it 114 charges they were found guilty of? Big news.’
Rodri won four Premier League titles on the spin with City (Picture: Reuters)
Arsenal legend Ian Wright also had little sympathy for Rodri’s viewpoint and, although he accepts no one can take the experiences away from the Manchester City players, the accolades could be stripped.
‘He’s talking about what he’s done, he went shoulder-to-shoulder with the guys and of course you can’t take that away from them, they experienced that,’ said Wright. ;But they should take it way from them, they should be punished for it.
‘They may be able to experience those memories and great times together, but when you look at the teams that were trying to chase them, who were doing it right, its not right!
‘What have we taken from Liverpool’s legacy? [Jurgen] Klopp and that team. What could they have experienced?
‘They cheated to get it done and people have missed out on that, players have missed out on unbelievable opportunities for themselves. I’m glad we’ve finally got there.’
City won three titles during the period in question (Picture: AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
‘There is no doubt a points deduction would be the most likely outcome in the view of many,’ Maguire told TalkTV.
‘We have seen points deductions before for Nottingham Forest and Everton for breach of the financial limit rules. So that is feasible. There is a separate issue of whether clubs who have missed out on titles, could they put in for financial compensation for not getting into Europe and loss of prize money.’
It would be ‘madness’ to take titles away from Manchester City, says Harry Redknapp (Picture: Getty)
Harry Redknapp says he hopes Manchester City are punished in ‘the years to come’ as it would be ‘madness’ to go back and begin ‘messing with results’ from previous seasons.
The earth-shattering verdict comes on the back of a comprehensive four-year investigation into the club’s financial practices carried out between 2009 and 2018.
Though a possible timeline for City’s punishment remains uncertain, the eight-time English champions are expected to launch an appeal in due course – and there are fears the process could drag on for some time.
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The potential knock-on effects of City’s misconduct bring countless other clubs into the picture, one of them being Tottenham, who Redknapp of course managed when the two teams battled it out for Champions League qualification spots in the early 2010s.
But while his side missed out on Europe’s premier competition by once place in successive seasons in 2010/11 and 2011/12, the former Spurs manager feels it would be insanity to start rewriting history.
City are facing severe sanctions after being found guilty on 114 of the 115 charges levelled against them (Picture: PA)
Redknapp managed City’s rivals Spurs between 2008 and 2012 (Picture: PA)
‘Manchester City’s guilty verdict handed down on almost all of their Premier League charges is a staggering moment for football,’ Redknapp wrote in a column for The Sun.
‘It is a huge task to try and wrap your head around just how far this could reach through the sport — all the people who could be impacted.
‘There are so many who will feel they have a claim to have some wrongs righted should City fail in their appeal and I am one of them.
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‘During the period City’s charges cover, I was in charge of Spurs and locking horns with them for the Champions League spots over a long run.
‘In back-to-back seasons, 2010/11 and 2011/12, we finished one place off qualification.
‘The second time around, when City won the title with that Sergio Aguero goal on the final day, we finished fourth but still missed out as Chelsea won the Champions League to take our spot.
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‘In May 2011, a 1-0 loss to Roberto Mancini’s side saw them qualify for Europe’s biggest competition for the first time and ended our dream of getting in there ourselves.’
Redknapp added: ‘Who knows what would have happened if those at the Etihad had been playing by the rules like everyone else?
‘No one can say for sure but Tottenham fans will not be alone in feeling that they were, in some way, cheated across those seasons.’
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has said ‘our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began’ (Picture: PA)
Though teams at both ends of the English top flight may have grievances and cases to make, Redknapp has ‘no interest’ in the Premier League returning to previous seasons to take points or titles away from City.
He continued: ‘Champions League football over those two years could have changed so much for Spurs but I have no interest in the Premier League going back and deducting points from those seasons or deducting titles from City.
‘This whole process has been one almighty, drawn-out mess, but we are still a long way off from it being finished.
City do not return to action until October 11, when they face Liverpool at Anfield (Picture: PA)
‘Just imagine the can of worms we would be opening if the suits were to start going back and altering league tables which have long been finalised.
‘Where do you start and where do you draw the line? Not only are the clubs at the top impacted by titles, Champions League places and huge revenue missed out on – but those at the bottom will all have claims, too.’
If the Premier League were to begin ‘messing’ with previous outcomes, Redknapp believes would do ‘incredible damage’ to the division’s perception and standing across the globe.
The Premier League is the ‘envy of the world’, says Redknapp (Picture: Stella Pictures/Shutterstock)
‘Opening up all those previous seasons would do incredible damage to a league which is the envy of the world,’ the 79-year-old went on.
‘City obviously need to be punished, to be made an example of, but it makes much more sense for everyone involved if those penalties cover the years to come.
‘They should be hit hard when all is said and done but, as wronged as we all might feel by what happened, it would be madness to go back and start messing with results from the past.’
City are expected to launch an appeal in due course (Picture: Reuters)
‘I have been part of this club for 18 years,’ the statement began.
‘I have had the privilege to stand with you in the Etihad, at Wembley, and in Istanbul. This club matters to me, and you have shown and told me – time and time again – how much Manchester City matters to you. This is why I am writing to you today.
‘Following Friday’s media reporting, many of you will have spent your evening answering questions and responding to messages from friends, family and colleagues. So have I. Here’s what I said to my family: The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began.
‘There are so many things that I would like to be able to share with you to help you understand why we feel so confident in our position. But the strict confidentiality of the legal process and our determination to respect it means I cannot do that at the moment. Even this letter underwent several legal checks to make sure it complies.
‘I ask you to please carefully read the statement below, which we gave on Friday, and the statement we issued in February 2023 (also below). Every word matters and holds true.
‘While some people have been quick to reach their own conclusions, and there is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed. There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our club. We will not give them that opportunity.
‘We have some exciting moments to look forward to after this international break. We travel to Anfield in a fortnight, and then host Paris St Germain in the Champions League back at Etihad Stadium – moments that give us an opportunity to celebrate the strength of the Manchester City family.
‘Thank you, as always, for your constant support.’
