Tottenham joy at City win overshadowed by Kane injury

Thursday, 11 April 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

LONDON (Reuters): Tottenham Hotspur’s elation at beating Manchester City 1-0 in their Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday was somewhat overshadowed by the prospect of a potential season-ending injury for Harry Kane. Kane, who has scored 24 goals this season, rolled his ankle painfully just before the hour mark after a hefty tackle on City defender Fabian Delph.

The England striker left the field immediately and looks a major doubt for next week’s second leg in Manchester.

He could even miss the run-in to Tottenham’s season, having already had a lengthy spell on the sidelines with an injury to the same ankle in January when he damaged ligaments.

“We are very sad and disappointed. We are going to miss him, maybe for the rest of the season, and we are worried about that. He doesn’t have much time to recover,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters.

“We’ll see in the next few days. We can only look forward and hope it’s not a big issue and that he can recover as soon as possible, but it doesn’t look good.” Pochettino exchanged angry words with Delph after the incident, in which the City player appeared to stand on Kane’s ankle as the pair tussled for the ball.

“He was so aggressive with Harry after the action,” Pochettino said. “I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t the intention of Harry or him to damage each other, it was a tough action, and Harry twisted his ankle.

“I said to Delph, ‘You were lucky’, because they were checking the VAR and technically it could have been a red card. But I think both were fighting for the ball.”