Our (one and only) left back Marc Cucurella did not play a minute of last night’s 4-1 Nations League victory over Switzerland, so head coach Luis de la Fuente kindly gave him a day off. In the scoreless draw with Serbia three days earlier, Cucurella had played for over an hour. For the Spanish national team, this was just his second day off in the past thirteen matches.

After a 16-month absence, Robert Sánchez was reinstated to the national squad. However, he did not appear in either of their two matches.

Renato Veiga, who was unexpectedly called up, did not play a minute in either of Portugal’s games during the break, so he will have to wait to make his debut. Cristiano Ronaldo came in for Pedro Neto in the second half of Wednesday night’s 2-1 victory over Scotland, but Neto started the game. João Félix was substituted midway through the second half and had a solid performance, which contributed to their reversal of the half-time deficit and eventual triumph.

 

 

Following Jurgen Klopp’s criticism of Manchester United’s treatment by the former Liverpool manager, Jadon Sancho delivers a one-word message to Klopp

This summer, the 23-cap England international signed a season-long deal with Chelsea, with the option to make the transfer permanent, for £25 million, leaving Manchester United on loan.Despite Klopp’s departure from Man Utd’s bitter rivals Liverpool at season’s conclusion, he was in charge of Sancho and Borussia Dortmund on Saturday for the testimonials of Lukasz Piszczek and Jakub Blaszczykowski.

In response to a video showing Klopp receiving support from the Yellow Wall, Sancho said, “Legend!”

The German’s vocal disapproval of Manchester United’s treatment of the 24-year-old was made public earlier this week.”If the whole world loses trust and faith in the player, the manager has to be the one behind the player,” Klopp remarked, referring to Sancho’s predicament before his move to Stamford Bridge.

“I refuse to blindly believe that ‘he’s useless,’ as other clubs did – purchasing a player for £80 million and then loaning him out!”

Sancho seems to have valued Klopp’s opinion based on his most recent statement.

After a highly publicized split with manager Erik ten Hag last season left their relationship in shambles, Sancho has now resolved his issues with his parent club by signing for Chelsea.