Rasmus Hojlund breaks silence amid injury fears as Man Utd star says San Marino ‘targeted’ and tried to ‘crush’ him
RASMUS HOJLUND has claimed San Marino “targeted” him after he was substituted by Denmark during their Euro 2024 qualifer amid injury fears.
The Manchester United forward, 20, was replaced in stoppage time at the end of his country’s 2-1 win over the minnows on Tuesday night.
Hojlund, who scored the opening goal of the game in the first half, could be seen wincing as he made his way off the pitch.
It came after San Marino’s Roberto Di Maio had planted a sharp knee into the back of the Dane in the 75th minute.
The defender received a yellow card for the challenge – which came just seconds after he had come onto the field.
Denmark captain Simon Kjaer claimed in his post-match interview that he overheard opposition players telling each other to “go for Hojlund’s knees”.
He also pointed out Di Maio’s challenge was similar to the one which broke Neymar’s vertebra at the 2014 World Cup.
Kjaer is said to have flagged San Marino’s treatment of Hojlund to the referee.
Hojlund, who suffered a back injury at the beginning of the season, then gave his take as he accused the San Marino players of carrying out a planned attack on him.
He said: “I feel they targeted me, as you can see at the end.
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“I understand Italian and I could hear them saying that they had the idea to crush me.
“You can see from the images that he only had one idea in mind.”
Erik ten Hag will be waiting anxiously as he fears another injury to a member of his squad.
He is already in the middle of a defensive crisis with Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Sergio Reguilon, Tyrell Malacia and Aaron Wan-Bissaka all carrying fitness issues.
Man Utd have lost four of their opening eight Premier League games this season.
They travel to Sheffield United on Saturday, before hosting Copenhagen in the Champions League.
Then on October 29 they host rivals Manchester City.
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