Manchester United have had a torrid time of injuries this season, but one star player feared for the future of his career after the severity of tackles he received while on international duty.
During Denmark's 2-1 win over San Marino on Tuesday night in Euro 2024 qualifying, Manchester United pair Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund both started for the Scandinavian nation. Hojlund opened the scoring before San Marino equalised in the 61st minute.
Yussuf Poulsen spared Danish blushes by notching the winner nine minutes later, but Hojlund grew unhappy in the closing stages with what he believed to be a dangerous tackle in his back.
"The last duel had nothing to do with football," Hojlund told TV2 after the match. "It ended up being laughable in the end. Such a duel must not just turn into a yellow card. It's a knee in the back – straight red card if you ask me."
Having missed the start of the Premier League campaign due to a back issue, Hojlund's fears over a more severe reoccurrence of the injury are apparent.
"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. I think it is disrespectful that they hit and tear. I can't say much other than that I think they are the ones who started, and then the game just went on.
"They took it to the next level because they have nothing to lose. They thought: 'Well, fine enough, we might as well try to destroy the career'."
San Marino defender Alessandro Tosi dismissed Hojlund's claims, however, suggesting that being shushed by the Danish forward during his goal celebration did little to placate tensions.
"That's not true," Tosi said in response. "We only told him that he was not behaving properly. What he did was not necessary. He is a very strong striker, but he was not fair at all.
"I haven't lost respect for him completely, but we expected better behaviour. His behaviour when celebrating was unacceptable."
The Manchester United striker fortunately came through the game unscathed, with Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand substituting him in stoppage time for Mathias Jensen. Despite Tosi's rebuke of Hojlund's claims, Hjlumand backed his striker in the media afterwards.
"They were really tough with Rasmus from the start," Hjlumand said. "Some of my players who know Italian say that they did everything to hurt him.
"I asked the fourth official to keep his eyes on Rasmus for five minutes to see how many times he was caught without the ball being around."
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