Micky van de Ven was in tears as he left the pitch after suffering a hamstring injury in Tottenham’s Carabao Cup clash with Manchester City on Wednesday night.
The Dutch defender was chasing after City winger Savinho when he seemed to tweak a hamstring.
The 23-year-old tried to shrug off the problem but was clearly in pain as he grabbed the back of his right leg and treatment on the field could not improve the situation.
Just 14 minutes into the match he was replaced by Destiny Udogie and looked very emotional as he limped off the pitch and down the tunnel.
Teammate Yves Bissouma ran after Van de Ven to give him a hug, with the Dutchman distraught to suffer what appears to be a serious injury.
The rapid centre-back knows all too well how long he is likely to face on the sidelines due to the hamstring problem, having suffered the same issue last season.
He pulled a hamstring in the memorable Premier League meeting with Chelsea on 6 November 2023 and was not back in action until he faced Manchester United on 14 January this year.
There was also concern for Timo Werner in the second half as the German went down seemingly with pain in his groin.
The former Chelsea man opened the scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but couldn’t make it to the final whistle, replaced by Richarlison on 69 minutes.
Postecoglou said of the injury concerns: ‘Micky felt something in his hamstring. I haven’t got the full update on him but he definitely felt something and we’ll see how he is.
‘Cuti [Romero] was a bit tired. I contemplated changing him at half-time but after losing Micky as well I didn’t want to lose another centre-half. He said he felt ok but my gut was telling me there’s no point taking a risk as we had Benny [Davies] who could come on.
‘Timo hasn’t played a lot so I felt it was more fatigue hopefully than anything else.’
Other than the injury concerns it was an excellent night for Ange Postecoglou, though, as they ousted Manchester City from the Carabao Cup with a 2-1 win.
Werner’s opener was followed by a fabulous strike from Pape Matar Sarr, with Savinho getting one back for City before the break.
That was where the scoring ended as Erling Haaland remained on the bench and Spurs booked their spot in the quarter-finals.
More to follow…