Spain star Pedri hobbled off inside ten minutes (Picture: Getty)
Spain have confirmed Barcelona midfielder Pedri will likely miss the rest of Euro 2024 after being injured in their dramatic quarter-final win over hosts Germany.
Pedri was clattered by Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos early into the game and despite trying to continue, had to hobble off inside ten minutes.
The 21-year-old was on the verge of tears as he made his way off the pitch, with Spain’s bench immediately consoling the midfielder and checking in on his injury.
Spain boss Luis de la Fuente was furious with the officials after Kroos, who is retiring after the Euros, did not received a yellow card for the challenge.
A statement from Spain’s medical team said: ‘Our medical services are assessing an internal lateral sprain to Pedri’s left knee.
‘Pending tests to assess the degree of the injury and rule out associated injuries.’
While Kroos escaped punishment for his challenge on Pedri, Germany did receive two first-half bookings and four yellow cards in the second half.
The Barcelona star was felled by Toni Kroos (Picture: Getty)
The physical nature of the match surprised Ruud Gullit, who won the European Championship with the Netherlands in 1988.
He told beIN SPORTS: ‘I think in the old days, you would go in hard with your first challenge and they would never book you.
‘It looked like that today. I think the Spanish will be furious, the newspapers will be all over this tomorrow.’
Florian Wirtz cancelled out Dani Olmo’s second-half goal in the dying minutes to take the quarter-final tie to extra time.
Both teams had chances to nick a winner with penalties beckoning but it was Spain who produced that bit of quality, Mikel Merino heading home in the final minute of extra-time.
Spain, who have arguably been the standout team at Euro 2024, will face France or Portugal in another mouth-watering clash for a place in the final.
Germany, meanwhile, failed to make the semi-finals at their home tournament and also bid farewell to retiring legend Kroos.
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