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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dan Kilpatrick

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen to find out on Thursday if he will get green light for Ajax decider

Jan Vertonghen is set to discover on Thursday if he will be able to play in next week’s Champions League semi-final decider at Ajax.

The Tottenham centre-half was due to see a neurologist to determine if he is suffering from a delayed concussion following a clash of heads with Toby Alderweireld in Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to his former club.

Vertonghen is unlikely to be risked in Saturday’s match at Bournemouth and Spurs will be guided by the assessment before making a decision for next Wednesday’s match.

Uefa have said they are happy with the conduct of the club’s medical staff and referee Antonio Lahoz after Vertonghen briefly returned to play following treatment.

The 32-year-old quickly signalled he was unable to continue, however, and was helped from the pitch by two members of Spurs’ medical staff, while retching.

In a statement, Uefa said: “Based on the reports of Uefa’s officials, the concussion procedure was respected, as the referee immediately stopped the match after the incident... before letting the player come back onto pitch, the referee went to the touchline to approach the team doctor, who informed the referee that the player is fine to carry on.”

Spurs say Vertonghen passed all concussion tests on the pitch while a scan on Wednesday revealed nothing untoward.

In his press conference ahead of the weekend's match with Bournemouth, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino said: "Today was his appointment with the specialist and we still haven't seen the report.

"After the game was good, he was more relaxed and felt better. Now we need to see the report from the specialist.

"We don't know (if he can face Bournemouth), we need to wait. That is going to be a decision from the medical staff. We cannot guess now.

"We hope it is not a big issue and he is available soon."

Meanwhile, Spurs have complained to Uefa after they gave tickets in the home end to hundreds of Ajax fans on Tuesday, which led to tensions between supporters.

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