Dusan Tadic believes he suffered a broken nose against Wales when Neil Taylor accidentally kicked him in the face but the Southampton winger has not ruled out playing against Liverpool on Saturday and will consider wearing a protective mask to give him every chance of being available.
The 27-year-old required lengthy treatment on the side of the pitch during Saturday’s 1-1 World Cup qualifying draw against Wales, with his face covered in blood after Taylor caught him on the bridge of the nose. Tadic later returned to the action with cotton wool stuffed up his nose to stem the bleeding but admitted he was struggling to breathe at times.
“I think I have broken my nose,” he said. “At first I thought I could not see so many things but I couldn’t leave my team-mates alone on the pitch and I wanted to play and this is important. Every player feels really important for the team. You cannot leave team-mates without you.
“I couldn’t breathe or do anything and I lost a lot of blood. I see a little bit also not so good. But that does not matter as when you play a game you want to fight for your country to try to give your best.”
Tadic was relaxed about the fact that Alberto Mallenco, the Spanish referee, chose not to book Taylor for the challenge. “Spanish referees have a different criteria. He gave a little bit of a ‘fight game’, you know, and that is good for Wales. But this is not important. The tackle on me was really hard but this is the referee’s decision. We don’t need to think about that. I saw Taylor after the game and he asked me how it was. I said it is OK.”
Serbia take on Ukraine in a friendly on Tuesday night and Tadic gave the impression that playing in that match was more important than worrying about a trip to hospital. “Serbia people are not soft,” he said, before leaving the door open to face Liverpool. “We will see. I can wear a mask.”
