Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has confirmed that midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is "conscious and communicating" after his worrying head injury in Spurs' 1-1 Premier League draw with Leicester City.
With Yves Bissouma serving an internal suspension after filming himself inhaling laughing gas, Bentancur was given the nod to partner Pape Sarr in the Spurs engine room at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester's ground already held painful memories for the Uruguayan before the game, as he memorably ruptured his ACL during Tottenham's previous most recent clash with the Foxes, a 4-1 away defeat in February 2023.
Midway through the second half, Bentancur came off worse in a clash of heads with Leicester attacker Abdul Fatawu and appeared to have been knocked out cold as worried teammates rushed to his aid.
Play was stopped for several minutes while Bentancur - who was eventually able to sit up - received treatment, and he was stretchered off to warm applause from all corners of the King Power while receiving oxygen.
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Postecoglou: 'The key thing is Bentancur is conscious'
As the game entered its dying embers, news filtered through that Bentancur was conscious and talking, and Postecoglou confirmed that reassuring update in his post-match press conference.
Asked whether the Uruguay international was knocked unconscious, Postecoglou said: "Mate, I don't know. Whenever it's a head injury and you see a player go down, I think nowadays we're always cautious in that moment and I don't know the actual circumstances but I know it was a head collision.
"I don't have a lot of information but I know he is up and he's communicating so he's fine from that point of view. But obviously a head injury and I'll leave it in the hands of medical team now. The key thing is that he's definitely conscious and communicating."
Prior to Bentancur's alarming injury, Tottenham were the dominant force in the first half against Steve Cooper's men and deservedly went ahead when Pedro Porro glanced James Maddison's cross into the net.
However, Spurs failed to capitalise on their surfeit of chances, and their wastefulness proved costly, as 37-year-old Jamie Vardy took advantage of some abysmal defending to head Leicester level early in the second period.
Postecoglou laments "poor decisions" in Leicester draw
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The Foxes looked the more likely to snatch all three points in the final half-hour, where Tottenham were indebted to Guglielmo Vicario for making a vital save to deny Vardy his second of the match, and Postecoglou rued "poor decisions" his players made throughout.
"Yeah, look disappointing outcome. Very dominant first half, really wasteful in front of goal. We started the second half simile. First 15-20 minutes very dominant, wasteful but you know at 1-0 there is always an opportunity for the opposition to come back into the game," football.london quotes Postecoglou as saying.
"That's what happened and we lost our way for 15 or 20 minutes. We lost our composure and the crowd got behind them, but again finished strong. Just really disappointed we lacked a little cutting edge in the front third, made some poor decisions, lacked some composure and didn't get the reward our football deserved."
Tottenham also lost goalscorer Porro to an apparent foot problem in the closing stages of Monday's game, but there has been no update on the condition of the right-back, who was able to hobble through the pain for a few minutes.
Spurs play their first home match of the season on Saturday, when Everton arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Ben Knapton
