Cristian Romero injury adds to Tottenham’s Champions League worries

Thomas Frank has a potential centre-back injury crisis to contend with before Tottenham’s trip to Monaco in the Champions League.

Captain Cristian Romero pulled out in the warm-up before Sunday’s 2-1 home loss to Aston Villa with an adductor problem, with Kevin Danso included at the last minute to partner Micky van de Ven in the centre of Spurs’ defence.

Tottenham were without Ben Davies – withdrawn early for Wales against Belgium last week with an unspecified issue – while Radu Dragusin is not ready after his recovery from anterior cruciate ligament damage and summer recruit Kota Takai is building fitness.

It left 16-year-old academy player Jun’ai Byfield as Tottenham’s only centre-back option on the bench against Villa.

Frank was unsure if Romero would recover to face Monaco on Wednesday and to make matters worse Danso was in pain late on against Villa after a blow to his ankle. If Spurs were to lose another centre-back, midfielders Joao Palhinha or Archie Gray may be forced to fill in.

“Minor adductor issue, nothing big,” Frank replied when asked about Romero.

Quizzed on if he will be fit for Monaco, Frank admitted: “I don’t know. He could be, he couldn’t. I just don’t know.”

Spurs were also without left-back Destiny Udogie, who reported “minor irritation” in his knee after international duty with Italy.

If Udogie and Romero remain sidelined, Tottenham could be without 10 players at Stade Louis II with forward Mathys Tel not included in their Champions League squad for the league phase.

Dutch international Van de Ven could wear the armband again and praised defensive partner Danso for his display in defeat at Villa.

“Yeah, of course always a blow when ‘Cuti’ falls out before kick-off. In the warm-up he stepped inside and we knew already, ‘OK, he is done for today,’ but Kev did an unbelievable job to come in,” Van de Ven told SpursPlay.

“It’s really difficult to come in the warm-up when you never know if you’re going to play, but I think he did unbelievable when he came in.

“Of course it’s difficult (last-minute), but I know the qualities of Kevin. I’ve played with Kev a couple of times and I know what I can expect from him and he knows what to expect from me.”

Villa’s victory in the capital made it five in a row in all competitions and Unai Emery heaped praise on Morgan Rogers after he scored his first club goal in 20 matches.

Rogers impressed for England on international duty, but had not scored for Villa since April before his sumptuous strike.

Emery said: “Always he is doing his task because he is a hard worker and through it is coming the performance individually. Like today with (Ollie) Watkins, he played a fantastic 30 mins, he didn’t score but he was fantastic.

“For Morgan especially, he did the same progression because he was working and working and working.

“Always you have to work and Morgan is playing and scoring because he is helping the team for 90 minutes. He is very important, very important.”