On Tuesday, Manchester United’s Rasmus Højlund scored for Denmark in their 2-1 win over San Marino in the European qualifiers.
After the tie, the striker told TV2 Sport, relayed by Bold, that the San Marino players ‘wanted to hurt him deliberately’.
In the last window, the 20-year-old arrived at Manchester United after spending a year at Atalanta.
Højlund has said that he overheard San Marino players speak in Italian about their intention to hurt him, and he didn’t feel he got protection from the match officials.
“I think it’s a shame that the match has to end the way it does. I think there are many instances in the match where the San Marino players are going to go a bit too hard on me and some of my teammates,” he said.
“They saw me as a target today, as you can also see at the end. I understand Italian, and I can hear them talking about how they had an idea that they were going to smash me.”
In the extra time, Højlund fell on the ground after being kicked in the back and was then replaced by Brentford’s Mathias Jensen. The Manchester United summer signing is unhappy with the lack of protection from the match officials.
On that incident, he told TV2 Sport: “The last duel has nothing to do with football. It ends up being laughable in the end. Such a duel must not just turn into a yellow card. It’s a knee in the back – straight red card if you ask me.”
Højlund didn’t wait for the final whistle and immediately rushed to the dressing room after he was substituted. The Dane has admitted that he did this to avoid a clash with the San Marino players.
“I just shouldn’t have anything to do with them. Yes, I didn’t want to say thank you for the match. There were probably some who wanted to try out for a show after, so I hurried to the dressing room,” he added.
