Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer issued an update on Eric Bailly after the defender’s scary injury saw him in a neck brace and stretchered off the field in Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal loss to Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.
“Hope he’ll be fine,” Solskjaer said, via The Manchester Evening News. “He’s in hospital going through all the routine checks and protocols, he got a cut in the back of his head as well, I haven’t heard, not spoken to the doctor about it yet.”
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It was 0-0 between the sides when Bailly went head-to-head with teammate Harry Maguire, opening a cut in his head. Bailly eventually got to his feet and walked off the pitch, but laid down again on the grass outside the touchline for more medical attention.
Chelsea scored within nine minutes of restart and went on to cruise to a 3-1 win and a date with Arsenal in the Aug. 1 final.
A bigger part of the loss was longtime star goalkeeper David De Gea, who allowed two bad goals. At least one of the pair would be deemed a howler by anyone, with scorer Mason Mount admitted he was very lucky to get it.
A Harry Maguire own goal would make it 3-0 before Bruno Fernandes bagged a late penalty to ruin Willy Caballero’s clean sheet.
Solskjaer tried to go easy on De Gea.
“I can’t speak for David de Gea’s confidence but he is mentally very strong,” Solskjaer said, via the BBC. “He knows he should save that one 100 times out of 100 but that’s football for you. I made the decision to play him and mentally he was ready for it.”
United now has to get off the mat and beat West Ham on Wednesday to keep the upper hand on Leicester City before meeting the Foxes in a top four decider on the final day of the season.
Then there’s the Europa League. Given the remaining field, De Gea or another goalkeeper will have to shine at some point in the tournament.