Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez has slammed Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger for his reckless challenge which has cast doubt over Kevin de Bruyne’s Euro 2020 dreams.
The midfielder turned ‘false nine’ captained Man City as they slipped to a defeat at the hands of his former team Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League final on Saturday.
And that trip to Porto, resulted in a double blow for de Bruyne. Not only did top European honours elude the Belgian and his teammates once again, but he had to be substituted on the hour-mark after the challenge from Rudiger – who has since apologised – left him with facial injuries.
Rudiger said on Twitter: ‘I’m really sorry for @DeBruyneKev’s injury. ‘Of course this was not intentional from me – I’ve already been in touch with Kevin personally and I really wish him a speedy recovery & hope we can see him back on the pitch very soon again.’
The referee Antonio Mareu Lahoz showed Rudiger only a yellow card for the reckless challenge on the Belgium international.
But, the result of a scan revealed that de Bruyne has suffered a broken nose and fractured eye socket, which could dent his prospects of representing Belgium at this summer’s Euro championships.
Speaking about the challenge, Belgium manager Martinez said: “For me, Rudiger is very, very fortunate. When you look at the replay, there’s no clash of heads.
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“He’s properly leaving the shoulder against Kevin. He seems concussed and we will see the state of that.
“But that leaves a sour taste, because Rudiger’s holding his head, it’s almost that he wants to show that he’s hiding something. For me, it was excessive force and it was reckless. And it should have been a red card.”
Earlier in the afternoon, De Bruyne tweeted: “Hi guys, just got back from the hospital. My diagnosis is acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture. I feel okay now. Still disappointed about yesterday obviously but we will be back.”
