Mauricio Pochettino insists Tottenham’s medical staff followed concussion protocols after Jan Vertonghen was controversially allowed to return to the pitch despite suffering a serious-looking head injury in the Champions League semi-final loss to Ajax.The defender has since been given the all-clear by Spurs, who say he has not suffered a concussion, and walked unaided out of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after his side lost the first leg 1-0 on Tuesday.
Brain injury charity Headway called for football’s authorities to introduce “temporary concussion substitutions” to allow medical staff to make proper assessments of injured players. The Spurs manager said the medical staff would always be the “boss” in such situations and that he would have made the change sooner had he been instructed to.
Champions League regulations state: “Any player suffering a head injury that requires assessment for potential concussion will only be allowed to continue playing after the assessment, on specific confirmation by the team doctor to the referee of the player’s fitness to do so.”