San Marino players ‘targeted’ Man Utd’s Rasmus Højlund with horrible tackle

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·18 October 2023

San Marino players ‘targeted’ Man Utd’s Rasmus Højlund with horrible tackle

Highlights

Denmark captain Simon Kjaer expresses concerns over San Marino's deliberate targeting of Rasmus Højlund, drawing parallels to Neymar's injury in 2014 World Cup.
Højlund himself confirms San Marino's intention to "crush" him, indicating a targeted approach to defending against him during the match.
Manchester United and Rasmus Højlund's coach Erik ten Hag will closely monitor developments as the team prepares for their next club match against Sheffield United.

Manchester United could be handed a fresh injury concern to striker Rasmus Højlund following Simon Kjaer’s comments post-match against San Marino. The 20-year-old scored first in their 2-1 affair against the 207th ranked team in the world, per FIFA, but his night could’ve come crashing down thanks to the actions of his opponents.

His prolific nature in front of goal continues for De Rod-Hvide despite not opening his Premier League campaign for his new employers thus far, having now converted six strikes in his nine-game senior international career.

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San Marino, who hadn’t scored since November 2022 against Saint Lucia, miraculously found a goal in the 61st minute as an unmarked Alessandro Golinucci thumped the ball past Kasper Schmeichel as the Danish defence failed to successfully clear their lines from a corner.

RB Leipzig star Yussuf Poulsen regained Denmark’s one-goal cushion shortly after as he latched onto Jonas Wind’s cross to convert a close-range header. It is, however, believed that San Marino players set out to deliberately injure the Danish centre-forward and Kjaer issued his concerns in a post-match interview with TV2 (via The Metro).

Simon Kjaer shares fresh concerns about San Marino’s approach to Højlund

Kjaer, Denmark skipper, referenced Neymar’s injury against Colombia in the 2014 World Cup to Højlund’s incident after the Brazil international fractured a spinal bone and missed six weeks of action. To add to the fury, the AC Milan centre-back claims he overheard San Marino plotting their next moves to intentionally cause pain to his teammate and even offered translation to the referee, Viktor Kopiyevskyi.

“I said in the end that it is a clear red card against [Rasmus] Højlund, because it is 100 percent deliberate – and I think that there has been a situation with Neymar,” Kjaer admitted. “Exactly the same when he gets a knee in the spine, where he actually breaks his back. It’s dangerous, and they are right next to it. After all, I told him [the referee] right on the pitch that now they are going after his knees after the situation down there. “I also said to the referee ‘do you want me to translate now?’”

Substitute Roberto Di Maio needlessly led with his knee into Højlund’s back in the dying embers of the match-up, which resulted in the latter wincing in pain as he was replaced by Brentford midfielder Mathias Jensen.

Rasmus Højlund’s comments

Concerns have arisen for those of a Manchester United persuasion given the unwavering weight on his shoulders to provide moments of magic in the final third for them. He spoke after the game about their approach to defending against him, claiming that he – thanks to his days spent in Serie A for Atalanta – could make out from the Italian that they planned to ‘crush’ him.

“I feel they targeted me, as you can see at the end. I understand Italian and I could hear them saying that they had the idea to crush me. You can see from the images that he only had one idea in mind.” the 20-year-old gem said.

Erik ten Hag will be keeping a close eye on his developments in the coming days as the Dutchman prepares his side for a return to club football with an away trip to topflight strugglers Sheffield United.