Sandro Tonali stepped up for Newcastle United against Aston Villa in Bruno Guimaraes’ absence.
Sandro Tonali knows he must step up for Newcastle United after Bruno Guimaraes’ hamstring injury.
The Italian did exactly that on Saturday - bagging a stunning brace to dump Aston Villa out of the FA Cup. Speculation regarding Tonali’s future has emerged in recent weeks but he silenced the noise to help Newcastle continue their bounce following the Brentford defeat nine days ago.
Less than 24 hours before kick-off, the Magpies were rocked by the news that Guimaraes could face 10 weeks on the sidelines. The skipper has been instrumental to Newcastle’s success - especially this season - since the Saudi-backed takeover.
Sandro Tonali reacts to Bruno Guimaraes setback
Speaking to NUFC TV, Tonali recognised Guimaraes’ importance and vowed that every player “will take responsibility” in his absence. He said: "Bruno is one of our best players. Our best player for scoring, the best player for recovery balls. He's key for us, and we miss him, because it's tough when you lost a player for a few weeks, for a long time.
“Bruno will come back in a few weeks. He's a top player for us and we need him. Every player here, we take the responsibility for everything - not just until Bruno comes back, but (also) when Bruno comes back we'll take the same responsibility, because we need every player here in this team - and especially Bruno because he's one of the best players at Newcastle."
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‘Our relationship is perfect’ - Sandro Tonali
Tonali also hit out at the rumours surrounding his Newcastle future. He celebrated the second goal with Eddie Howe in a show of solidarity towards his manager.
“After the second goal, I came to Eddie because in the past week, people spoke a lot about our relationship,” Tonali added. “I work every day with the gaffer, the gaffer works every day with me. Our relationship is perfect - it is not broken. We try to do the best for this team.”
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