Antonio Conte has suggested that Dejan Kulusevski made his injury worse by not coming off the pitch while on international duty with Sweden.
The 22-year-old sustained a hamstring issue during Sweden’s 1-1 draw against Slovenia on September 27th and played the full 90 minutes of of the UEFA Nation League fixture in Stockholm.
Kulusevski has missed Tottenham’s Premier League matches against Arsenal and Brighton, along with the trip to Eintracht Frankfurt last week and will once again sit out today’s return fixture when the Bundesliga outfit visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Conte admitted that he was not prepared to risk the Swede for the Champions League clash given the prospect of losing him for a longer period of time, with Everton heading to north London on Saturday evening in the Premier League.
He told Sky Italia: “Kulusevski had a problem with Sweden and also made it worse by staying on the pitch until the end.
“For tomorrow [today], I absolutely don’t think I want to risk him because losing him would be devastating for us. He’s doing great things, he has a lot of potential.”
SpursWeb Opinion
It is not surprising that the likes of Kulusevki are suffering muscular injuries given the number of matches which they are expected to play both domestically and at international level ahead of the World Cup in November.
Conte is right not to risk him this evening, however, if Kulusevski tried to play on with the injury for Sweden it has has proven to be a costly decision.
Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
