Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte will be without another key wide player for Spurs’ Champions League match against Eintracht Frankfurt, in addition to Lucas Moura.
Spurs have travelled to Germany as they take on Frankfurt at the Deutsche Bank Park. Tottenham started their Champions League campaign well, defeating Marseille 2-0 at home, thanks to two headed goals from Richarlison. However, suffered a shock defeat to Sporting in the dying minutes of the game just a week later in what was their first loss of the season.
As a result, the north London club is second in their Champions League group, trailing only their opponents tonight on goal difference.
And while Kulusevski was a doubt, the fans were hoping he would make it in time ahead of the game tonight. But Conte confirmed in his pre-match press conference that the Swede will not be involved. He said (via Football London): “Kulusevski is out. Moura is out.”
When asked when can Kulusevski be expected back, he said:
“About Kulusevski, honestly I don’t know when he has the time to recover, I hope to recover him quickly, but I don’t know if for the next game, or for the game in the Champions League against Eintracht Frankfurt at home, I don’t know. I don’t know this. But about the situation, you know that we don’t depend on one player. We played four games without Deki, and we won without him. And in the past, we won and we lost with him, and it was the same. Also this season, the team doesn’t depend on one single player. It depends on the way that we play, the intensity that we want to put onto the pitch, the desire, it depends on this.“
While Moura appeared to have fallen down the pecking order at Hotspur Way prior to his injury, Kulusevski’s absence will be a “massive blow” to the Italian manager.