World Cup star slams tackle that forces him to miss nation’s first knockout game

Spain star Nico Williams has hit out at Uruguay’s Nicolas de la Cruz for his tackle on him that has ruled him out of the World Cup last-32.

The 23-year-old sustained a muscle injury in his nation’s 1-0 win over Marcelo Bielsa’s side despite only coming on in the 76th minute.

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Williams, who came into his second World Cup struggling with fitness issues, hasn’t been able to start a single game for La Roja.

The Athletic Bilbao winger has now suffered a setback in his road to full recovery after his late cameo against Uruguay.

And Williams has made it clear that he lays the blame at the feet of De la Cruz, for his ‘completely unnecessary’ tackle that injured him.

The 33-cap Spanish international, brother of Ghana’s Inaki, was wiped out by the Flamengo midfielder in added time.

De la Cruz, who was booked for the challenge, was among the Uruguay players who allowed their frustrations to boil over late on as their World Cup hopes were fading – with Agustin Canobbio also shown a straight red card for diving in on Pau Cubarsi.

Williams, who squared up to the 29-year-old after he was fouled, has now gone one step further by sharing his account on social media.

“Today is one of the worst days of my life,” He posted.

“I am injured again after a very difficult year.

“Yesterday, I suffered a new injury following an incident where a fellow professional acted out of frustration, unhappiness, and sadness over the situation he was going through.

“In my opinion, it was a play that could have been avoided, as it was completely unnecessary. But this won’t stop me.”

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Spain injury crisis

The Spanish Football Federation have since confirmed that Williams has suffered a ‘moderate’ injury.

He is expected to miss at least his nation’s World Cup last-32 fixture against Austria, but has a chance of returning later in the knockouts.

Williams had targeted the Uruguay clash as the match he would be fully fit after a year disrupted by hernias, groin and hamstring issues.

He has completed 90 minutes in only half of the six appearances he has been able to make in his past 15 games for club and country.

His opposite number on the wing, Lamine Yamal, similarly came into the World Cup short of fitness and is yet to manage a full match.

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Meanwhile, new Liverpool signing Víctor Muñoz is still waiting to make his World Cup debut after several muscle problems.

The only other natural winger in the squad, Yeremy Pino, may now miss the rest of the tournament with an acromioclavicular sprain.

The Crystal Palace man had first sparked fears of a broken collarbone after landing awkwardly on his shoulder late on against Uruguay.

Spain coach, Luis de la Fuente, admitted: “We’re getting a bit short on specialist wingers.

“We won’t change our ideas, but will have different players with different characteristics.

“If we can’t play with wingers, we’ll play without wingers.”