Sandro Tonali fitness truth after Newcastle United maestro leaves Italy camp early
Reports last week suggested Sandro Tonali withdrew from the Italy squad after picking up a knock.
Italy manager Gennaro Gattuso has revealed Sandro Tonali was not risked against Norway to avoid a potential ban.
Newcastle United fears arose last week when reports claimed Tonali withdrew from the squad due to fitness concerns. Any setback to the midfielder - arguably the club’s best player - would deal a huge blow ahead of this weekend’s clash with Manchester City.
Tonali did not play last night as Italy were beaten 4-1 on home soil by an Erling Haaland-inspired Norway. Heading into the clash, Gattuso’s men needed a 9-0 win to book an automatic spot at the World Cup.
Gennaro Gattuso reveals Sandro Tonali truth
However, using common sense, Gattuso rested Tonali to avoid a potential suspension for the play-offs in the next international break. The 25-year-old was a booking away from a one-match ban so withdrew from the Italy squad early - easing Newcastle’s injury doubts.
“Calafiori’s out, he was trying yesterday,” Gattuso said before the Norway defeat. “Tonali is also out, he doesn’t have any physical issues, but we won’t risk him given his booking. He will train today and he will be at the stadium tomorrow, as well as Calafiori. Both will attend the match.
“Our future is to try and get to the World Cup. We are talking about how to stay close to our players. We are organising how to get together in February (ahead of the World Cup play-offs in March), to have 48 hours together, to go and visit them. We’re arranging that, and to go and watch all the games using all of our resources.
“We have to be very intelligent (against Norway) and not get caught up in the emotions. Tomorrow’s game is one that will help us understand what level we’re at, and where the bar is. But we need to be intelligent, too. We can’t take any sendings off, we can’t have any foolishness.”
Sandro Tonali wanted ‘emotional’ AC Milan return
Just days earlier, Tonali was looking forward to returning to the San Siro - the venue for Italy’s latest setback. He told reporters: “It is emotional, the last time was almost three years ago. It is a place that is in my heart and every time I go back to Milan will be emotional for me.
"It’s not the first time, but will always feel like the second, it’s always going to be wonderful. It wasn’t easy (against Moldova), but this is modern football. We also knew that Norway had won, so it was a bit of a strange atmosphere.”
Sandro Tonali gives unconvincing answer
Tonali sent panic around Tyneside a fortnight ago when he refused to commit his long-term future to Newcastle. He said: “This is a tough question because in football you need to think year on year. I don’t want to say I want to stay here 10 years and in two years, three years, four years, five years I will go.
“I want to think, just for me, year on year. This is football. Last summer was tough for us, for Alex (Isak), but this is football. If you have an option for your life, for another team you need to think about everything. I don’t want to say, ‘Yes, I want to stay here for 10 years’ but now I’m happy here. I don’t think anything about another team.”