Inter have suffered a triple injury blow during the ongoing international break after the Netherlands boss Louis van Gaal confirmed Stefan de Vrij’s fitness issue. Before the Dutch defender picked up an injury, Alessandro Bastoni and Edin Dzeko were forced to withdraw from their national teams.
Bastoni left the Italy camp yesterday, having joined the group in discomfort on the back of his participation in the Milan derby last weekend. The 22-year-old center-back will have to skip the Italians’ crunch World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland on Tuesday as he is on his way to returning to the Giuseppe Meazza for further checks.
Unfortunately for Inter, misfortunes never come alone. Dzeko was unavailable for Bosnia & Herzegovina’s ‘winner-takes-all’ match-up against Finland in Sarajevo on Saturday. The experienced striker is dealing with a muscle injury and should be in Milan on Monday to undergo medical examinations.
Bosnia suffered a 3-1 heartbreak against Finland, which effectively shut down their hopes of securing the play-off spot in Group D going into the final qualification matchday. As revealed by SempreInter, the Dragons won’t risk Dzeko now that their chances of securing a berth at Qatar 2022 are officially gone.
Things are going from bad to worse for Simone Inzaghi’s side ahead of their mammoth Serie A showdown against Napoli next weekend. De Vrij, who started in the Netherlands’ underwhelming 2-2 draw with Montenegro on Saturday, limped off the pitch down the final stretch.
The 29-year-old reportedly sustained a thigh strain and won’t feature in his team’s World Cup qualification finale. Van Gaal has confirmed De Vrij will not take part in the Netherlands’ decisive Group G encounter against Norway in the aftermath.
“De Vrij will not be available to play against Norway on Tuesday,” he stated, as relayed by FCInterNews.