Mauricio Pochettino hails Tottenham’s 'excellent' medical staff after treatment of Jan Vertonghen's head injury

Vertonghen is treated for the head injury sustained during the Champions League semi-final first leg defeat to Ajax
PA/Mike Egerton

Tottenham Mauricio Pochettino says his medical staff were 'excellent' in dealing with Jan Vertonghen's head injury against Ajax and that he is open to changes to football's concussion protocols.

Spurs' treatment of Vertonghen in their 1-0 defeat in the Champions League semi-final first leg has led to fresh calls for changes to the game's concussion procedures.

The centre-half briefly tried to play on after clashing heads with teammate Toby Alderweireld but he quickly left the pitch supported by two members of Spurs' medical staff after his right leg appeared to give way.

Tests on the pitch and further assessments on Monday showed no ill-effects but Vertonghen saw a specialist neurologist on Tuesday, and Spurs were awaiting the results before deciding whether to risk him in Saturday's game at Bournemouth or the second leg in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

"We still didn't receive the [neurologist's] report," said Pochettino, when asked about Vertonghen's condition. "After game, he was good, more relaxed, I think he felt better. Now we need to receive the report.

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Ajax, Champions League | 30/04/2019

1/73

"We don't know [if he can play on Saturday]. We still need to wait. That's a decision for the medical staff. We cannot guess now. We hope it's not a big issue and he's back as soon as possible.

"We followed the protocol. You can see on TV what happened. Our medical staff were excellent and followed the protocol. I respect them because I'm professional about football, not medicine. Decisions about health are for medical staff. The assessments on concussion were negative, that's why the player was allowed to play [on]. After that was a completely different thing, he started to feel not good. After that we changed, and he was out of the pitch.

"He was conscious. When he changed his shorts, he was a little bit worried about changing in front of everyone. And that behaviour made clear he was conscious in every single moment."

Experts on head injuries, including the brain injury charity Headway, have called for the introduction of independent doctors and concussion substitutes at all games.

There were similar suggestions in 2013, when Spurs were criticised for allowing Hugo Lloris to continue in a 0-0 draw with Everton after he briefly lost consciousness.

"I'm more than open to improve the decisions," added Pochettino. "I think the most important thing for us is and always will be the health of the players. The game, the result in the semi-final of the Champions League is less important than the health of the players.

"That's our priority always. I don't know if we need to change the rules and have another [independent] doctor. For me, at every single of my clubs, the doctors are independent, all the decisions they make are protecting the health of the players. That's my rule. At Southampton, in my first season, when the situation with [Hugo] Lloris and [Romelu] Lukaku happened in 2013, we used this clip to talk with the players and all the staff – and gave all the power to the medical staff to take the decision. I'm not going to take a decision in front of the medical staff.

"I explained to the players they can say whatever they want on the pitch but the bosses are the medical staff. My coaches and myself are going to say nothing against the medical staff. My rule at Southampton and my rule from the first day here is my priority is the health of the players. The priority is always the person.

"For me, if the doctor said to me that he has some doubts, I'm more than happy to change the player. I'm not going to put on risk any player. That's a debate about the doctor, to find the best solution. For me, it's so easy: if the doctor have minimal doubts, I'm more than happy to support the doctor. I'll always support my medical staff. You can ask the referees [on Tuesday]. They were talking in Spanish. The referee for me was fantastic. I want to praise him for amazing behaviour. His priority was the player. He said, 'Mauricio, are you sure he's in a condition to play?' I said, 'Ask the doctor, not me'. That's the most important thing. Of course we can talk – I'm open to debate but I want to help the player avoid risk."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in