Matic ruled out of Serbia's international matches
Serbia head coach Mladen Krstajic confirmed on Tuesday that Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic will not play in their matches against Germany or Portugal.
Matic then played for 86 minutes last Saturday evening, in the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final tie against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molinuex, before he was replaced late on by Juan Mata.
Nemanja was initially selected as Serbia’s vice-captain for a friendly in Germany this evening and Euro 2020 qualifier against Portugal next Monday, but he will now not partake in either fixture.
On the Serbian FA’s official website, Krstajic is quoted: “Nemanja Matic will not play in Wolfsburg, nor in Lisbon. He played the last match in the club but did not stay in the field until the end.”
The news of Matic’s absence follows Monday evening’s announcement that Luke Shaw will not feature in either of England’s Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic or Montenegro due to injury.
On Sunday, the France Football Federation confirmed that Anthony Martial had pulled out of their squad to face Moldova and Iceland due to injury, while Sweden also revealed that Victor Lindelof had decided against representing his country in their fixtures due to personal reasons.
There is still a question mark over Romelu Lukaku after he missed our FA Cup tie at Wolves due to injury, but the striker is with the Belgium squad and it has been reported that his availability is being assessed by the national team staff. It remains to be seen if the big man will feature against Russia on Thursday or Cyprus on Sunday.
WHO IS PLAYING THEN?
Antonio Valencia has been included in the squad for Ecuador’s friendly games against USA and Honduras, Marcus Rashford remains a focal point of Gareth Southgate’s England squad and Paul Pogba is of course working hard with world champions France.
Meanwhile, Eric Bailly is preparing for Ivory Coast's game against Liberia, while Scott McTominay hopes to feature in Scotland's matches with Kazakhstan and San Marino. David De Gea is also set to face Norway and Malta.
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