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On Saturday’s UCL Final, Kevin De Bruyne received an excessive tackle from Chelsea’s defender, Antonio Rüdiger. City’s midfielder, left the field in tears in the 60th minute of the game, after being forced off the field with a black eye and visible bruise marks. He was substituted by Gabriel Jesus ending his dream of finishing the final and attempting to equalize the 1-0 score. The collision looked so dangerous we were left wondering whether he had suffered a concussion. Meanwhile, only a yellow card was given to Rüdiger by referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz.
On Sunday, the Belgian midfielder provided us with an injury update on Twitter. “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.”
After such a visible and dangerous tackle we wonder how was Rüdiger not given a red card?
With Euro 2020 just two weeks away, he will now have to wait and see if he can recover in time to join Belgium’s squad in their first game against Russia on June 12. The Belgian Red Devils will then face Denmark on June 17th and play Finland on June 21st. If he is fit enough to join, chances are he will have to wear a protective mask.
Belgium’s coach, Roberto Martinez, angrily commented on De Bruyne’s injury. “Rüdiger is very, very fortunate,” said by Roberto. “When you look at the replay, there’s no clash of heads. 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 Rüdiger’s holding his head [as if he too was injured] – it’s almost that he wants to show that he’s hiding something.” He continues, “For me, it was excessive force and it was reckless. And it should have been a red card. Kevin is not a player that goes down for no reason. You can see the pain and it’s a swollen eye.”
De Bruyne was set to join the Belgian camp next Monday, so we are sure more information on his condition will likely be revealed by then. Nevertheless, more importantly, we wish our strong midfielder a speedy recovery and hope he gets to play with the Belgian squad this summer for Euro 2020.