‘I got a little worried’ – Kulusevski on nasty facial injury suffered on World Cup duty for Sweden

Dejan Kulusevski has admitted that he was initially left slightly concerned following the clash of heads he was involved with during Sweden’s World Cup play-off against the Czech Republic.

The Tottenham player was involved in the nasty incident in the 55th minute of the match at the Friends Arena when he went to head the ball along with David Zima which left Kulusevski coming off the worst of the two players.

Zima’s head made contact with the left cheek of the 21-year-old which left him requiring treatment and applied an ice pack to his face before returning to the field where a lump could be seen close to his eye.

Kulusevski played the full 120 minutes of the match in Stockholm which saw his side secure the win during extra time.

The Juventus loanee admitted that he tried to channel his anger following the incident to help his side secure the victory.

He told Swedish news outlet Fotbollskanalen: “It [head] started to spin for a few seconds and I got a little worried,”

“I thought it was the head, but then it turned out well. I was just trying to get angry to get energy from it.

“[I] could not have forgiven myself. I thought we had to win this. We cannot lose to Czech Republic at home. It cannot happen.

“It was a fantastic goal by Alex (Isak) and Robin (Quaison). Now we have to win against Poland and I look forward to it.”

Sweden will now meet Poland in the play-off final for a place in Qatar after their semi-final opponents Russia were banned from World Cup qualifying following the invasion of Ukraine.

SpursWeb Opinion

Based on Kulusevski’s comments, it appears that he will be fine to be able to return to Tottenham fit and ready to face Newcastle as they continue to put the pressure on Arsenal in the race for the top four.

He has had an impressive impact since joining the club in January, having slotted in seamlessly alongside Harry Kane and Heung-min Son at the expense of Lucas Moura.

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