Tonali injured in Albania-Italy: he falls on his head and goes out on a stretcher

From our correspondent Alex Frosio

November 16th
– TIRANA

Sandro is down and doesn’t get up. He looks at the sky above Tirana, above the lights of the Air Albania Stadium and doesn’t move. The alarm goes off immediately from the blue bench. It was almost the end of the first half and it looked like any other tackle, an ordinary aerial duel in midfield. Tonali goes up to overwhelm Bare, who also gives him a few abundant centimeters but leans on the contrast with the blue, acts as a bridge and then the blue falls badly. It slams hard on the grass, from above, and it hurts. The game stops, Lazio’s Hysaj arrives to beat him on the chest as if to make sure he’s okay, but Sandro isn’t well. He hit his head at the level of his left temple, he put his hands on his face and the blow was strong, because the blue landed from a certain height and unbalanced by the contrast with his opponent.

The rescue

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The national team doctor, Angelo De Carli, quickly enters the field and immediately realizes that a stretcher is needed. And then the fear grows. Also because the images coming from the field are not reassuring. It’s not a problem with the shoulder, as the dynamics immediately suggested, but with the head. Tonali is immobilized, he continues to look at the sky of Tirana. He is alert and at least that’s a good sign. They take him to the locker room. The first news, however, reassures. Sandro has never fainted. The Italian Football Federation immediately organized transport to a private clinic in the city for tests and the boy, albeit a little dazed, left the stadium on his own feet. However, the first tests yielded negative results. In short, a lot of fear, a bit of a headache but luckily nothing serious for the Rossoneri.

Accuse social

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But fear runs fast, it pollutes souls, especially those of the Milan fans. And social media certainly doesn’t help to contain them. Tonali is now a pillar of the Devil, and for this last double appointment of the year he was the only blue squad from Pioli’s team. And it is true that there are two months of break ahead, but it is better to avoid setbacks and stops. Above all – this is the indictment of the most ferocious “popular” critics – because of a friendly match. After the birth of the Nations League, among other things, this type of match has virtually disappeared. Italy had played the last ones before the European Championship, to prepare for the tournament they then won. After that, only official matches. Sandro, among other things, had missed the Azzurri’s last three games, those of the Nations League: the 5-2 in Germany through suspension (but he had stayed with the group after the “fatal” yellow in England), then the return with England (at the Meazza, therefore at his home) and Hungary because he hadn’t been called up. Just as he hadn’t been called for the “Finalissima” loss against Argentina at the beginning of June – in full blue depression after the World Cup elimination -, while the most malignant recalled that in the tragic night in Palermo against Macedonia, in that accursed qualifying playoff semi-final in Qatar 2022, the Rossoneri half-back had been sitting on the bench for almost eighty minutes, only entering in the final to assist Trajkovski’s coup de grace from the field. With the Rossoneri, on the other hand, in the tour de force that was this first part of the season, Pioli only spared him once, against Monza, which adds to the only real absence, in the first league match against Udinese. Then eleven games as a starter in the league and six out of six in the Champions League.

Randellate

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Not that Tonali saves himself. In the Rossoneri he always goes at a thousand an hour and he has tried to do the same in the national team. In fact, he didn’t spare himself last night in Tirana either. He placed himself at Verratti’s service, sharing the dribble with his teammate and covering his initiatives. And of course, his type of game, sometimes very physical, brings him into strong contact with the opponent. He gives them and takes them. With Albania he had also caught a good bludgeon again from Bare just before the crash that forced him out. But there the blue midfielder got up without batting an eye and at the first opportunity he serenely returned the blow to the first one who happened to be within range (Lenjani which had nothing to do with it…). Then the fall caused by the Albanian player’s incorrect “bridge”, the scare, the transfer to the clinic, the reassuring tests. In the end, fortunately, it went well. To the point that Tonali was able to return to Italy with his other teammates already this night.