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Newcastle United injury news: Sandro Tonali has withdrawn from international duty with Italy.
Newcastle United have been handed a fresh injury scare ahead of their clash with Manchester City next weekend following news that Sandro Tonali has withdrawn from international duty.
Tonali played the whole game as Italy overcame Moldova on Thursday night, but won’t feature in their final match of the break against Norway. Tonali, along with Arsenal’s Riccardo Calafiori, has withdrawn from the squad and will head back to England prematurely.
Sky Sports report that Tonali won’t be risked by Gennaro Gattuso despite ‘no physical problems’ whilst Fabrizio Romano reports that the Italian is ‘not 100% fit’ heading into Italy’s game with Norway.
He posted on X: ‘Sandro Tonali won’t be available for Italy to face Norway as he’s not 100% fit — staff won’t take any risks. #NUFC staff informed now about Tonali returning earlier to the club ahead of the upcoming games.’
Italy have the biggest of mountains to climb against their Scandinavian opponents tonight if they want to secure an automatic qualification spot for next summer’s World Cup. Italy must beat Norway by nine goals to ensure they top their group.
Failing to do that will push the Azzurri into a playoff spot. Whilst they would enter that playoff round as a heavy favourite to progress, memories of their defeat to North Macedonia in 2022, one that ensured they would not play at the Qatar World Cup later that year, will linger fresh in their minds.
Tonali, meanwhile, will now return to Tyneside as Newcastle United prepare for their return to action against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City on Saturday (5:30pm kick-off). The Magpies headed into the international break having suffered back-to-back defeats in the league against Brentford and West Ham and sit just two points above the Premier League relegation zone.
Eddie Howe on Sandro Tonali illness
Tonali’s injury record during his time at Newcastle United has been very good, with the 25-year-old missing very few matches through injury. However, he was sidelined last month with illness - one that reportedly swept around the squad and also impacted Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes and Jacob Murphy among others.
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Tonali was labelled as a doubt to feature in Newcastle’s clash with Fulham in the Premier League last month, but was introduced to the game around the hour mark as his side pushed for a winner. Despite not being 100% a day prior to that game, Howe praised the Italian for pushing through that illness to benefit his team, one that was rewarded with a last-gasp winner from Guimaraes.
“I think all options were open,” Howe said when asked about the midfielder that day. “I had a little chat with Sandro at the start of the second half as the game was developing and I just said, look, how do you feel? Do you feel like you can come on and be yourself? And he said, yeah, I feel okay.
“Whereas [on Friday], talking to him, he still felt that he wasn't 100% fit. So, it's great to have him so honest and thinking of the team, not himself. It's a great quality to have.”
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