Cristian Romero snubs Tottenham medical team and thanks 'Argentina physios' after making injury return | OneFootball

The centre-back played an hour upon his return after three months out

Snub: Cristian Romero sent a message

Action Images via Reuters

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Tottenham’s Cristian Romero credited Argentina’s physios with his return to fitness after the defender made his comeback in Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.

“Grateful to the physios at @Argentina for pulling me out of a bad moment and getting me back on the field where I’m so happy,” Romero wrote on social media. “Thanks to everyone for the constant support.”

Cristian Romero/Instagram

Goals from Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson put Bournemouth in command but Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs rescued a point through Pape Matar Sarr’s strike and a Heung-min Son penalty to avoid a third consecutive defeat.

They face AZ Alkmaar in Thursday’s Europa League last-16 decider, needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit to keep their hopes of salvaging the season alive.

“After a tough period full of things that happened in between, I’m back with the group and happy to be able to help the team,” Romero added. “There’s surely a lot to fix and work on, but we’re together and eager to turn this situation around. See you on Thursday, we’ll come back stronger than ever, all together @SpursOfficial”.

Postecoglou acknowledged that Romero was rusty on his first appearance in three months but is delighted to have the defender and his centre-half partner Micky van de Ven fit again.

Romero played the first hour before being replaced by Van de Ven, who has also not played in the league since the Chelsea game, while Dominic Solanke completed 90 minutes on his first start since January 15.

Cristian Romero played an hour

Action Images via Reuters

“That’s the key thing, they got minutes,” the head coach said. “Romero just great to get him back out there. He's such an important player for us but you could see he hasn't played for a while. I thought he grew into the game and got a lot better as it went on. Great for Dom to get 90 minutes today, he's such a workhorse for us and I'm sure he'll feel better for that.

“Brilliant to get Micky out there as well. I think before Thursday night that was key for us to get some minutes into these guys and thankfully they got through it unscathed.

“Not surprised [Romero was rusty], he hasn’t played for a very long time. He's hardly played this year to be fair. Cuti will be disappointed with that himself but at the same time what was much more important for me was how grew into his game, his defensive work, his aerial ability.

“He was on the end of almost every cross they put into the box from corners and I think for him he will feel a lot better just having played. The idea was only to play 45 today, but he was keen to stay on for a bit longer and you could see he grew into the game and was really important for us.”